


E'la nostra ora incisa sull'anello

by Bleach_ed_Na_tsu



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Gen, POV First Person, parental first generation, retelling of story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-06-22
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-15 03:11:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 53,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14150661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bleach_ed_Na_tsu/pseuds/Bleach_ed_Na_tsu
Summary: While /we/ know that Primo resided in Tsuna's ring- as he had for generations- Tsuna didn't. How did Primo veiw his descendent's struggles through the battle with the varia, the future, and all decimo's other misadventures? Through the eyes of Vongola Primo. Chapters re-written.





	1. Prologue

"E'la nostra ora incisa sull'anello"

" _Our hour was engraved on the ring"_

That was the first thing I told him when I 'met' him.

That first time we 'met'. That was the first time I had hope for my family. I also had the greatest worry and fear for our downfall. Though I loved that fear more than I should have. It wasn't the dreaded fear one feels when faced with a phobia, no it was that fear/excitement/thrill one is faced with when the unknown looms overhead.

" **Then I will destroy the Vongola!"**

That is what he had said when we met. When we first saw eye to eye. When he was trapped, when he had to watch me and his predecessors scorn him and press our sins into his hand. It wasn't really fair that we met in such a way, but that was the will of the rings.

My descendent. That is what they call him. My incarnation. Though, we are  _very_ different. We met and I left with my descendants- his predecessors. Left him sniveling and scared from the meeting where his innocence was shattered and the truth of what  _exactly_ it was he was inheriting was given to him on a platter as softly as it could be given _._ That is what he thought when he was left in the black of a cloud guardian's weapon.

What he doesn't know is that I have been with him all along. When my soul was torn in two halves, like it always is, he was the one to keep me sane. He was the one to keep me hoping for the survival of my family.

The half-blood Vongola ring. Such a stupid tradition. Though, I suppose if we weren't separated our power would destroy the family. Only one person seemed worthy of our power; Tsunayoshi.

A simple child. That is what Vongola Decimo was. Simple. A child. Perfect. Our lives- the Vongola's lives -are drowned in a sea of blood. Stained with the sins of our eight other generations.

However, a mafia is to be expected to be bathed in crimson mercury right? How could we be called a 'mafia' if our leaders' hands were always pure and clean.

To the outside world. To everyone around us. To the civilians who were caught up in our explosions. We are evil. We are blood thirsty. We thrive on the murder of the innocent, and the blood of our enemies. That is what a mafia is. That is what the Vongola is.

Protecting those who we love. That is what  _I_  started. However, the Vongola blood, as tainted with mafia heritage as it was, was eventually led into a spiraling downwards fall. I suppose that is what happened when Secondo took over after my time as family head. You can take the bullets from the man but you cannot take the blood from his hands. That is why  _I_ believe we strayed from what my family and I started those almost ten generations ago.

G always told me while we lived on in our rings that Xanxus was the perfect leader. The Secondo's reincarnation. But even split, I could tell he was cold. Unmoving, like ice. His fire was simply rage. That rage could never protect anyone. Even Secondo, as full of rage and hatred as he was, had a flicker of other emotions, had a spark of humanity. Xanxus was simply, purely; Rage.


	2. Half-Vongola Rings. When we met Decimo.

" **I've come here to deliver these to thee.** "

Without any explanations. Without any forewarning. So unlike all of his predecessors before him; at least they were given warning, they were trained; they were raised with blood as décor in their homes and darkness as an accessory on their wrists. But not Decimo, he was a child given a gun and told to shoot himself in the foot. We were thrust into his hands after a bloodied battle by a man who forced himself onto Decimo like a brother. He was told to not allow anyone else to hold them. He was told to guard them with his life.

That is what Decimo was told when we were first handed to him after Xanxas' rain guardian came swimming into Decimo's home town, destroying it and swimming away with a placebo box in his bladed hands. I say  _we_  fully meaning it. My family didn't meet his until later. First we seven met Decimo, that's to say; G, Asari, Daemon, Alaude, Knuckle, Lampo, and I. We were together, sleeping in our spiritual forms inside the ring box that held us when we  _all_  met Decimo for the very first time.

When I was first given to Vongola Decimo, long before we 'met', he was fearful. I suppose, I wasn't given to him at the greatest of times. Xanxus' family was after him. Even before he had fully accepted the responsibility of the strongest mafia family, being  _his_ mafia family. Just as he started gaining allies and relaxing into the thought of having bloodthirsty suits after his every breath. He really didn't need  _the_ strongest of the Vongola family after his guardians' and his lives. But that is what fate handed him. Fate surely is heavy handed. Even then, under the fear and panic, I saw the potential, and the thoughts of protection immediately dart to his friends. Even scared and alone- of only figuratively- Decimo's thoughts were not of himself.

I remember when he was holding us. Half of our seven souls. I remember as clearly as the day our time stood still. The first time he held the box we resided in, his light flooded our blood crusted exteriors. I laugh at the irony now, the irony that G was the first to see hope in the warm, orange glow of the Decimo. Though, we at the time didn't know of his juvenile age, his flames –  _BrilliantBrightOrangeGoldenW armth_ -were so much older than his body, so much more refined and suited to a boss of  _my_  famiglia.

" _Do you feel that Primo?"_  G had asked me.

" _I do G. Do you feel it everyone?"_  I had asked my other guardians who were waking to the warm glow of the one we  _knew_  would be Decimo.

Of course. Their attitudes changed as we woke to the Decimo's family and watched as the scared 'brat of a child', as G so named him, ran from the danger perusing him and his friends.

That is another thing that made my guardian's hesitant. Decimo's family weren't warriors. They weren't strong, well built men like Nono's. They weren't skilled fighters like Ottava's band of females. They were Decimo's friends. Juvenile children. That wouldn't do in the eyes of  _my_  guardians.

I wanted to snap at them for their hypocritical words, but even I was guilty of such hypocrisy, I wanted the best for my family, and despite the blaring similarity between Decimo's famiglia and my own when we started Vongola, they didn't seem like they were the best.

Yes there were two who were physically fit. One had the makings of the greatest Hitman. A natural killer. Much like his Rain counterpart in all honesty… there was simply something about the rain that hid the true nature of its wielder… However, both the boys, for they couldn't be described as anything else, were athletes. Scarred from safe competition. Not a mark of deadly combat on their young bodies. Athletes were the weakest of men in our opinion. They were strong bodied, but weak minded. Not fit in the least for battle, or to protect their boss with their lives.

One  _was_  a Mafioso. Born and bred to be part of our dark world. Yet still he was young, lean, harshly under-trained. He called himself Decimo's 'right-hand man'. G was most disturbed by him, he had no idea how much danger he was putting his boss in. His immature antics caused Decimo grief every other day. I knew G would not stand for it. He was the first to lose faith in the storm guardian of our Decimo's family.

Well, when I say only one was a Mafioso, I suppose it's a lie. There was a young cow-child from the Bovino family, but he was far from being called a Mafioso; despite his bloodline and dark heritage. This was the youngest guardian; one that plagued all our minds. Especially Lampo's. Only five and was given the ring of lightning. Decimo's reaction to this made all of us freeze. The quiet boy was more worried about the child and disgusted by his tutor's choice for his lightning than any of us could imagine. However, at that point in time, with  _very_  little knowledge of Decimo, we mistook what exactly his 'disgust' really was.

I knew later, that disgust- the outward yelling and screaming and denying that Decimo spewed- were all in worry for the child. He was not disgusted because the boy  _was_  a child, but because his tutor was dragging a child to death row. Decimo was terrified for the young boy who was growing to be a brother, he wanted to keep him safe from harm; my guardians and I simply didn't see that.

One disturbed all of my guardians. He was as aloof as Aloude. Yet, he had the eyes of someone willing to kill for the prosperity of those he cared for. A truly dangerous characteristic in one with the 'privilege' to kill for the family, and the free-roaming character of the clouds in the sky. What we weren't sure of was whether the cloud guardian actually cared for Decimo, or his other family members, or whether he simply had an early death wish and figured being in the mafia was the quickest route to that end.

Their mist guardian however pleased everyone to the point of insanity. Another ironic similarity if I look back on it. It is one time I actually shivered at how much our mafia interactions had changed us.  _Pleased_  with the mist guardian? We were ecstatic that there was someone so equally kind as cruel, I couldn't even bare to think how things would transpire for Decimo as I watched the ever changing mist. A guardian with two souls- one has the intention of protecting her boss; the other of killing him. We were  _all_  aware of who the mist guardians of Decimo reminded us of. Our souls could only sit back and hope that our fears were misplaced on the last edition to Decimo's family.

Bu the irony stuck me  _hard_. We did not trust Daemon; we knew he was cruel and that he did not necessarily right for _my_  famiglia. Yet here we were, egging Decimo into accepting the ex-convict because he  _embodied_  the true mafia characteristic. When did we become a  _true_  mafia famiglia? When did we forget  _our_  dream and  _our_  goal?

Decimo was another case of our hypocrisy and denial. He was juvenile, short, weak, too skinny, too childish, too immature, too scared. He was all of these, and much more. His doe eyes shimmered with worry and fear every time he was faced with even the slightest challenge. Once however, while searching for something like the warmth I had felt when we were given to Decimo, I saw a spark of something in his eyes. I watched his blood start to boil with a resolve truly worthy of him. Vongola's Dying Will flame.

Decimo was put under more anxiety when we were given to his friends than he was about having to hold the world of the Italian mafia on his shoulders. I can't blame him really; our crest had turned into something to be feared.

My family was given to Decimo's family; we brandished his family's death sentence. We were the bulls-eye for the snipers called the Varia. Yet he wore me. Every night, once his tutor was asleep he would hold his ring close to his heart, he's watch with his soft, doe eyes the colour of the most decedent hot-chocolate, as the moon's light cast shimmers on the broken ring's surface. His actions almost made me believe his hyper intuition knew I was still there.

He'd listen as he watched. He was always incredibly good at that. Whether it be for his guardians during a battle meeting or his friends when they were worried; he was a good listener. At night when he'd listen however, it was as if he was hoping for me to answer his ever increasing questions. I'd listen to them. I never answered them of course, I simply, listened. I watched from my prison, Decimo's face contort and grimace. Of course I could always tell what he was seeing. It wasn't that hard to tell. I felt the burning salted water fall and hit my shimmering surface on more than one occasion. Once, and only once, I even caught Vongola Decimo calling out our family's name, but without fear. He called it in hope.

He confused me, my new descendent. He wouldn't cry for himself, he cried for his guardians. Much like myself in that aspect really. That is when I first started to visit him. A decision to this day my guardians chide me for.

Being separated, my soul could only manifest as a bodiless, odourless, soundless, ghost. The rings separated greatly restricted our powers so we could only appear for short amounts of time, and couldn't actually be seen, or heard. I was undetectable to  _all._ Even that 'Reborn' who carried the weight of Arcobaleno of sun around his infant neck didn't wake when I arrived in the room. Though I knew that in the morning he'd sense something had gone on while he slept. He'd wonder why, when he woke long before his pupil, he felt someone else's presence in the room when he  _knew_  no-one could enter without his knowledge.

This I believe actually scared him. As hard an exterior he had, he was still human, he did care for his pupil, he cared even more however, for the Vongola, the loss of their Heir would only cause misfortune; that, he didn't want.

I'd wait in the darkness of the night, watching Vongola Decimo. My descendent. His face would crease with concern, his eyebrows would furrow. Occasionally a tear would roll down his face. When he slept, he was so much  _more_  a child than I cared for. He was to carry the family! Why was he so weak! I demanded my guardians this whenever we met up. I would throw an undetectable tantrum whenever I could. He was a  _child_. How my ninth descendent could be so naive to allow such a child to carry my family never ceased to peeve me beyond my limits. Still, I was no longer the leader of Vongola. I had no right to decide who my descendents were, and times had changed drastically from my time, maybe it was time a child took the seat at the top of the mafia world.

At first. Watching sweat brim on his forehead and run down the side of his face didn't affect me. I had seen it in all my decedents. They'd all cry out at how cruel and bloodied our path of Vongola was, and in the end they'd bend to my other decedents' impure sins and become a mafia whose only purpose was spilling blood. I had experienced firsthand, over nine times this initial fear. Quinto, sesta, settimo, and especially Ottova were the worst for the fear. They had lived fairly normal lives associated with the mafia; even then, the sudden change rattled their hearts and drained them of their resolve to heal my broken family.

I had watched it in Secondo also. Such a brutal man, everyone called him the true evil in our family. However, from my standstill I knew he was hurt just as much by the blood on his hands as the softest leader of the Vongola. Blood that inevitably fuled his rage and created the Secondo everyone remembers.

Of course, at first watching my descendents so pained by my family's very existence made my dead stomach twist in ways I had never felt while alive. I felt cold, deader than I was that's for certain; I also felt a responsibility that my guardians assured me I had no right accepting. This was a mafia. We were no longer a vigilante group sworn to protect our loves. Vongola was a mafia. The strongest, the most brutal. The furthest from what it had been created for.

So I knew Vongola Decimo would be no different. He would start to be tainted by the black sin of everyone before him, I knew that much. No one in Vongola could escape such a fated demise, Decimo was no different. Young as he was, much younger than all the other candidates had ever been, he had been raised a different life. He was fragile, actually fragile was probably an understatement, he was like blown sugar, a gust of wind could have shattered him. I knew he'd be pushed around if he were to become the true Decimo. He would be shattered. Of this I was certain, still I watched from his ring, at night I manifested to watch what exactly he did, how he reacted to the very real dreams he dreamt. Really I shouldn't have, I may have started to create a soft spot for my great-great-great grandchild; Tsunayoshi so similar, yet so different to myself.

Still, I visited him. I watched over him. He was a, curiosity.  **Curiosity**  that word was a suitable way to describe Decimo. I cannot lie to myself, I've never been one to jump to conclusions, G may have always been better at thinking before acting, but I was far more critical about my thoughts. I'd always enjoyed puzzles, I found them an enjoyable way to keep myself sharp, I lived by that. I prided myself on thinking outside-the-box, for that way, I wouldn't miss a thing.

Perhaps, thinking about it now, I was too harsh on Decimo during that first, crucial phase of his ever so rapid growth as the boss of his family. I deemed him unworthy even when my intuition screamed at me to help him somehow.

I wanted to believe in that warm, pure flame of dying will he held, the power that, around his guardians, both strengthened and saddened. I wanted to believe in someone being alive that held even one ideal I held when I was alive. I laugh about it now, my guardian's, especially G, chided me for my optimism.

" _Primo. No, Giotto. You can't hope for salvation for a family already so deep in sin and evil. Don't get your hopes up; you'll only end up hurting yourself beyond repair. It will never happen for us my friend."_ G, ever the optimist.


	3. Decimo's Intuition

After the first few days of being forced to wear me around his neck, the slender Decimo wore me hidden under his white shirt. The thick chain was cold, colder than it should have been. I swung as he strode shakily around to his classes, and to his school. It was a different experience than I had had with the other descendents of mine. Decimo was young, fifteen when he inherited me. Meaning he was a middle school student? So I was able to follow him around school, which was very curious indeed.

When Decimo was around his guardians, I would watch from his ring. I was always warm when I was around his guardians. The chain, so cold and steeled against the happiness of Decimo would warm instantly, like the sky opening up after a storm, just like the clean feeling after it rains. That could have been because I was suspended from the silver chain links that hung by his heart, or because I was closer to my own family when the rings came together. But I felt warmth hotter than the sun.

" **Juudaime!** "

" **Tsuna!** "

" **Gokudera-Kun, Yamamoto! O haiyou!** " he'd call to his two closest guardians.

He'd light up so much when he spied his two friends. No matter how cold, how angry, how sad, how scared he was his two friends being there helped him. My guardians believed I was exaggerating when I told them how the Decimo reacted to his guardians, but it was true, just seeing their faces made Decimo happy, it made him feel something he hadn't felt since the appearance of a certain tutor; he felt safety.

For some reason though, I'd feel an equally cold, dense rush over Decimo when his guardian's approached him hidden in the warmth. This interested me greatly. The warmth had such a shadow to it. As if Alaude had swept by, or as if Daemon had walked over my grave. That was the sensation I got when the initial warmth was lost.

Later I think I categorized this cold rush as worry, or maybe it's more suitable to call it a foreboding. Decimo loved his friends, even if he would not admit it, to know they wore their rings- with pride at that- and knew they were willing to play this 'game' with him made him inherently worried. He knew one day he would be the reason his guardians never saw another blue sky.

For the oddest reason this made me frown, or as Knuckle would tell me 'extremely pouty'. I felt like a child who had just been told he wasn't allowed something or had his newest toy taken away. I felt scolded, which was such a strange sensation for me, and it was all caused by the strange child called 'Decimo'.

During the day I could manifest. However, I could only manifest if I stayed extremely close to Decimo. So I did. As I did I realised just how similar to me he was. It's curious really. I also saw many similarities in Decimo's rain guardian as my own. Asari agreed with this too.

" _Well they do call the tenth generation our reincarnations Primo. Of course we'd be similar."_ Asari would laugh at me when we finally did see each other during the rare instances our counterparts were close.

My meetings with my guardians during days such as these were brief. Asari, and occasionally Knuckle would stay with their Decimo counterparts, however, most of my guardian's chose to reside in the rings of their Varia counterparts, most believed until the very end that Decimo's friends were trash to the Vongola name. So when I did catch a glimpse of Asari, it would be a single, fleeting instant where our thoughts, our feelings, and our fears would overlap and we'd speak, without uttering a single word.

Asari had always been the tranquility to our family. I suppose, when I think about it, I gave each of my guardians their elements because of these personalities. It only happens that Decimo's guardians were the first people to truly personify these original ideals of mine. Asari always calmed us down, he kept Alaude and Daemon from killing each other in their minutely squabbles, and kept Knuckle from joining in the 'EXTREME sparring matches' the two guardians put on. Decimo's rain guardian was no different.

" _Ma Ma Alaude, put the cuffs away. Daemon, don't you think the snakes are a little over played? Try something else."_  Asari would laugh to them. He'd sling his robed arms over their shoulders with the widest grin on his face. Of course, in his hands his blades would replace his flute, and I was sure that every time his arms slung over their shoulders, Alaude and Daemon would shiver as they glimpsed the true nature of the rain behind Asari's blue, chromatic eyes.

Decimo always grew warm as his right, and left-hand men appeared in the morning -every morning- and he would grown glacially cold, worried, sick to his core as he saw them wearing their half-Vongola rings.

Even if it were quick, hidden behind his shout of ear-splitting protest, I sensed anger. I felt a true hate for the family who were dragging both himself, and his friends into the blood-soaked world that none of them had any business being in. That anger, that true loathing, actually made me worry for the nature of the Decimo. Hate was always more powerful than any pure emotion.

" **Maa maa Gokudera. I was only greeting Tsuna.** " the rain guardian would hum at the guardian of storm.

" **That's the problem yakyu-baka! You address Juudaime too informally!** "

These daily, completely normal conversations would happen whenever the three pillars of the Decimo family gathered together. Of course. As much as G would hate to admit, he shared many 'charming' qualities with the tenth guardian of storm. As we soon learned, many more than we first expected.

It was during these first few days that I truly saw changes taking place in the 'Dame-Tsuna' and his first guardian, a change that, to an outsider, maybe even to the rain guardian, would seem like a single grain of sand on a beach. However, to G and I it was as substantial as the water to the sea.

Out of all of the guardians that Decimo had started to gather, and even once he had gathered them all, Gokudera Hayato was our greatest fear. Reckless, juvenile, ignorant, arrogant; his main traits were those that no one could ignore, they described him for all the wrong reasons.

Of course, being me, I chalked storm's attitudes, and his… way with words… to the fact that he was young, my guardians on the other hand left it down to his mongrel blood and his pride that didn't allow him to learn.

Decimo would watch his storm closely. His rain wasn't a problem; he  _knew_  he would be safe, he  _knew_  he was extremely strong. Even with his Hyper intuition in its infancy, Decimo felt that he had to protect the storm brewing in his care. Rain cleansed the sky. Storm could destroy it all.

Gokudera worried him. Whenever he declared his dying loyalty to Decimo, whenever he bowed to him in the morning, Decimo's hands would become clammy, his eye brows would furrow- even if it was internally- and his heart would grip painfully in his young chest. Such a pain, I knew it well. It was the pain, the understanding, that before you was someone willing to die for the sake of your life continuing. For someone yet to be fifteen, the burden must have been excruciating.

One day, not long before the true battles were to begin, was the day Decimo actually believed he would lose his newest friend; his trusted guardian. It was the day his heart tried to rip from his ribs, and the flames of Dying will he- at that time- barely knew burned with some of the strongest, purest resolve he has yet to experience.

What I find laughable is how much of an  _idiota_  the storm guardian was, his ignorance only proved to aggravate both G and I, Decimo was another story. He watched his guardian, hidden in the canopy of trees, and restricted by the arms of his guardian's teacher.

" **Guys like him who can't improve should be left alone** "

Those words, those simple words 'be left alone' made Decimo angry. An anger I hadn't felt in him, he was actually… disappointed with Gokudera's  _teacher_. He watched from the forest, I watched from over his shoulder. His hands clamped shut, his knuckles paling as his grip grew tighter, and tighter still. His teeth grinding together, creaking under the forceful strain of his jaw as he watched his friend stagger around half killed by his own ammunition.

I leant against one of the many trees surrounding Decimo. Manifested from his strong emotions, I started to feel my old intuition through the young child before me. He was such a curiosity; I wanted to know what he was feeling. I wanted to see how strong, how pure his resolve truly was. Alas, I had to wait, the agonizing, useless wait.

" _Primo, you are getting too attached. You must be unbiased. You are becoming soft!"_ G appeared next to me.

That surprised me almost as much as Decimo did. Gokudera was on the opposite side of the clearing, it shouldn't have been possible. For G to appear next to me, nonchalantly leaning on a tree, would take vast amounts of energy. As I was about to protest against my storm's appearance he pointed, half-heartedly to Decimo. G's face was both uninterested, but also smug.

" _This child?"_ I questioned not quite believing my storms silent statement.

" _This idiota child might be promising after all. His emotions towards that idiota over there have pulled me towards you."_  G scoffed.

A smile pulled at my lips. G looked at me with a shocked expression at the pure exhilaration on my face; luckily I was able to hide the pride seeping onto my expression. For Decimo to pull one of my guardians through his own ring from another takes two things; one is an incredible amount of resolve, second is an indestructible, trusting bond between himself and said guardian.

" **Why do you keep turning down Gokudera-kun? You already came all the way here…** "

Decimo's anger finally exploded from him in a way that made me want to slap myself, he sounded desperate, scared, maybe even on the verge of tears. I had hoped with my entire being that Decimo would have screamed, that he would have used that anger -that disappointment- and made it his power. That way he wouldn't be weak. If he had just used that anger I would have been assured he would make a good leader for our family.

" _I'm not so sure that would be true."_  this time G interrupted my loose thoughts, when I spoke to Asari about them when I saw him again, he completely agreed with G; truly a rare occurrence.

" _What do you mean G? If he used that anger he could have strengthened himself!"_  I exclaimed at my guardian incredulously. How could he say it wasn't true? Looking at the Secondo it was easy to see the strength of Rage.

" _Giotto, think back to Secondo, and Xanxas…that young boy wouldn't be able to handle it if he used his hatred as power… you should know that! Hatred only destroys the heart faster. How could you want that for your descendent?"_ of course G was right.

I was appalled at my own behaviour. I was becoming anxious over the actions of the young boy who seemed so unworthy for position as Mafia leader, yet who at the same time, had all the makings for the greatest leader yet.

" **Ahh… Watch out!** "

That yell shocked me to say the least. I wouldn't have been too shocked to hear something along the lines of a shrill, ear-splitting 'Hiiiiiiie' from my infant-like descendent, but an actual warning to his guardian wasn't something I was prepared for. I turned from G, who was also staring incredulously at the brunette boy before us, my azure eyes watched as his face contorted.

Pain. Excruciating, heartbreaking, tear-jerking, and I don't just mean for Decimo. I watched on as the smoke and fire lifted towards the sky, then back at the Decimo whose face paled in such a fearful glaze that I wanted to do something for him. In that instant I felt colder than I ever had before. It made me grip my chest in fear my heart would break. Decimo truly cherished his guardian. Taken back I watched on as Decimo fought to keep himself in place, thought he didn't trust the man before him in the least, he obviously trusted his guardian. Though, in the eerie light of the explosion, as the red and yellow furious light washed over the foliage, a thin sheen of fearful sweat brimmed on Decimo's entire body. His ring glinted with a sadness that even affected the ever controlled G to my right.

" **How can a man protect another if he cannot protect himself?** "

Those words made Decimo flinch. His eyes were slightly dulled with the pain but glinted with hope, and something else. Something I couldn't really understand.

Decimo's eyes lifted and searched the black, thick smoke for his guardian only to find him on the floor- in a hole- more specifically with a member of Vongola; Decimo's father.

Decimo grew outwardly confused; it masked his hope for an instant, but as he spied the silver haired bomber in the hole, his face contorted in grief, his eyes widened and his heart picked up its regular pace. In an instant I felt that same warm flicker of the boy we first met. For an instant I had hope for the continuation, and restoration of  _my_ family.

" **What I couldn't see… was my own life?** "

That was when I truly saw the change. G scoffed, a prided scoff, he looked at the idiota and smiled a smile that suited his scarred, tattooed face the fool finally saw the truth. G's crimson eyes watched me as he walked back towards his counterpart and disappeared back into his ring.

" _He's thinking about Decimo."_  that made  _me_  smile.

Decimo ran towards his guardian, tears again pricked in his chocolate eyes. He knelt by his side and I could feel the relief rolling off his shoulders, his ever muscle twitched with the jumping of sobs he wanted to release.  _ **"You idiot, Gokudera, what would I have done if you had died. You Idiot!"**_  that is what Decimo wanted to do, he wanted to scream at the storm guardian, he wanted to cuss and cry. He didn't, he held it in for the sake of the 'new' guardian.

That was the first time I had truly seen the 'dying will' in Hayato the bomber's eyes; a clear, burning, red shadow that shimmered and passed over his hues of green quickly. To those unfamiliar with the flicker, especially to Decimo, it was unnoticeable. However, I knew Gokudera was getting serious. His first thought after his realisation of his idiocy, was Decimo. He completely realised, even if only for an instant, Gokudera Hayato realised how much suffering he had put his boss through because of his recklessness.

In the time I had watch Decimo and his gang of friends, I had  _seen_  Gokudera Hayato the bomber, become very serious only twice. Both those time, I actually  _feared_  for those poor, incompetent fools who received the glaring green orbs that seemed the writhe and thrash with the oncoming cyclone. Gokudera was dangerous, unruly, and unpredictable. He was a storm of information and tactics, yet of kindness and compassion. He was like a switch, he would sense true danger and change, for his friend, for Decimo he would become the Mafioso so many of my guardians doubted he would ever become.

An instant. That was all he needed, an instant, and his enemies would be no more. His mind was complex, it was muddled; it was perfectly organized. Yet, at such a juvenile age, Decimo completely understood it; I think he even understood it better than its owner. Decimo acted distraught and useless; a 'brat inutile' G endlessly called him. Yet, I've always had a feeling that was because he knew he  _could_ be distraught and useless. Gokudera was there, the organized storm -Decimo's G- and Decimo  _knew,_ even if it was subconsciously, that he would be safe at the mercy of his storm.

Those days before their true battles, where they'd walk to class together- Decimo and his guardians- I truly enjoyed such days. Simple pleasures are said to breed from simple minds, however, not even Daemon had ever been able to decipher my thoughts, so could I really be called simple minded, even though I enjoyed simply watching over Decimo? I certainly had trouble even scratching the surface of Decimo's complicated workings, so does that make him simple minded?

On these peaceful, somewhat nostalgic days, I'd follow the three pillars of Vongola Decimo. They didn't know this obviously, it would defeat the purpose of my scouting if Decimo noticed me. Which was my only fear. His Hyper intuition was terrifying. Even if he had yet to learn of it, he would wake on a morning that I had visited, and his thin brow would furrow in faint worry. He knew I had been there, the fact he hadn't woken up seemed to worry him more than my actual presence in the room. But a quick kick from his tutor all but silenced the young Vongola into his usual, late-morning routine. On morning where I'd follow the Decimo and his young guardians around their school, I'd listen to them talking and Decimo would ask his guardians serious questions when no-one was around.

I can't lie to anyone; I cannot truthfully say "Decimo's worry for his guardians' wellbeing was promising". I cannot honestly say that seeing his brow furrow, and his eyes plead made me a very happy leader, because it only made me fear and worry more. Such a fear didn't make me shake with anticipation; it didn't twist my stomach with butterflies, and didn't make me tremble with honest excitement. It made me fear for the destruction of my family. Weak hearts lead to weak minds, and eventually lead to weak bonds therefore leading to the death of loved ones.

" **Are you two really ok**?" Decimo would ask his storm and rain. Everyday he'd ask them, even if they hadn't fought the night before. I chalked it down to his hyper intuition. Asari and Knuckles laughed at me.

" _Maa maa. Have some faith in our descendent Primo."_  Asari was one of the guardians who lost his faith in Decimo's guardian's long after everyone else did.

" _He's right primo. Decimo and his guardian's are truly one unit!"_  knuckle was another of my guardian's whose opinion of Decimo was higher than G's.

Naturally, G's opinion of my two guardian's, because of their false hope wasn't exactly the highest.  _"Idioti totali,"_ he'd call them after a declaration of their trust in their 'reincarnations'.

" **Of course we are Juudaime. Why wouldn't we be**?" his storm guardian would ask with honest confusion at his boss' questions.

" **Yeah Tsuna, I haven't been better.** "

Decimo would take their answers, but his fist would clench around his ring and his emotions proved he knew his guardians better than they thought. His raw hatred for me and my guardian's shook me. Though, I suppose 'hatred' was the wrong word. He didn't 'hate' us, no; Decimo was incapable of such sinful, black feelings. He certainly disliked us; however, he disliked even more the way his friends' lives were being uprooted for his sake. So when his friends denied that anything was wrong, when his rain guardian, Yamamoto, put up his fake smile, Decimo couldn't help but come close to true hatred. He's seen that grin before, when he'd see Yamamoto with the other popular people in the school, he knew even then, when he had never truly talked with the boy that it was fakery for tricking people into liking him. A trait Decimo had always wished he had.

Asari was similar when we weren't trapped in our rings, and even now he stays true to this nature, he gave up many things for me, his life, his traditions, his cherished emotions. So, whenever I felt there was something wrong, all his walls would fly up and he'd smile, laugh, and play my favourite song on a flute I had bought for him many years ago; all of this just to protect me. This aspect of him made me smile, and curse his good-tempered nature; he didn't deserve to have been dragged into my 'mafia game' and despite his natural born promise -which reflects in Decimo's guardian- his place wasn't truly at my side.

During the days leading up to their battles, and their training, the two guardians closest to Decimo staying over his house in the evening grew more and more frequent, meaning my guardians and I had time to catch up, not that G enjoyed sharing his space with the brash storm guardian.

" _Primo, I'm worried about these children."_ Asari was usually the first one to speak, yet, it wasn't in his usual, happy-go-lucky tone. It was with a cold, glacially frozen tone that was misplaced on his tongue.

" _As am I Asari… Yet,"_

" _Yet, you have such hope for them. You can see ourselves in them."_ G interrupted me as I spoke. His usually cold eyes were warmer than before.  _"But remember primo, they are_ children _you may see yourself in that young boy, but he is many years younger than you were…"_

" _I know G, and that is exactly the problem!"_ I would pace the boy's room in between his sleeping guardians. That was the problem, they were so similar to us, yet, they were so very, very different also.

Decimo had such warm eyes, he had been raised a good life. Yet, he held the same values as my guardians and I held- he was willing to give up everything for the lives of his friends. Everything.

" _Maa maa, G. Think about it for a moment, they may be children right now… but you remember that flame we saw when we first met Decimo."_ Asari looked on as his counterpart rolled over and mumbles incoherent words in my sleep, his hard eyes traveled to Decimo, who was sleeping less than peacefully and they softened into pity.

" _I remember well Asari Ugetsu. You don't need to remind me. His flames, his flames gave me hope. They gave me warmth I haven't felt in a long, long time."_


	4. Controlling Dying will and Training

Such peaceful days, where Decimo would be lulled into sleep by the sounds of his guardians sleeping just off to his side, where he had no worries other than his Spartan Arcobaleno tutor, or his crush on the girl in his class, I whole-heartedly wished -though I shouldn't have- that he could have spent more of his time worrying about these things… however, I knew those simple worries would come to a end quickly.

His days often went by like this before his training. Going to school, screaming, demanding someone re-think their decision in making  _him_  the candidate for Decimo of Vongola. I'd watch. I wouldn't see G or any of my other guardians. They stayed with Xanxus most of the time. They didn't believe in the young Decimo's ability, even Asari and Knuckle has started to lose faith by this time. Decimo had shown little, if any desire for the title, and even less proof of his strength and resolve. Of course I saw this resolve. I had all the faith in him my body could hold. I didn't know why though. Maybe it was that warmth I felt, that orange flame I had seen during out first meeting. Or maybe it was my selfish desires for my family. I didn't want it to fall into corruption, not again, not like it had so many times before.

As his battle for the right to run Vongola neared, his tension escalated. His training grew intense, and with everyday that passed I could feel his pain and his resolve. What amused me greatly about the Decimo were his reactions to something that was becoming greatly normal to him. When really I don't think he minded it at all, he is so much like his rain guardian; hiding behind the weak mask.

His screams still echo in my mind now, such ear splitting calls. They called his training something, 'controlling the dying will' I believe, that was when I realised I actually hadn't seen Decimo in a true fight. Another reason my guardians didn't take to Decimo well, they hadn't  _seen_  him in a real life-or-death fight before. Not that any of them actually wanted a child to be plunged into the sea of blood.

I remember him screaming at the boy named Basil, one of the members of Vongola's CEDEF. He kept insisting that he was going to die; even now I pale at how much of a wimp he was.

During the first attack by Basil, when Decimo was thrown into the solid wall behind him, it is an understatement to say I was shocked. Even I would have found the impact hard to get up from, so when Decimo's tutor only smirked - _smirked_ \- I was angry. I was furious, this Reborn character hadn't grown on me at all in the time I had watched Decimo, he was certainly talented, I would be lying if I didn't say he is probably the best Hitman of the time, however, I despised his ways of teaching, I especially didn't like the way he treated Decimo.

Of course what shocked me more, left me speechlessly gawking at my descendent was the fact he got back up, sat down, and  _complained_  about how it had hurt when he hit the wall. How can such a scrawny child, with very little pain tolerance, not pass out with shattered bones after hitting a solid stone wall? I questioned myself many times as I watched Decimo. I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I almost missed the exchange of bullets through Decimo's skull as his Dying will was ignited in the harshest way I had ever seen.

Of course, his dying will mode was, for lack of a better word, slightly disturbing, half-naked, and scrawny, the teen was fighting a cool, calm, and obviously experienced fighter with hyper-dying-will. I can't honestly say I wasn't worried one of these two -namely Decimo- was going to come out of this 'training' with loss of limb.

I was really stupid during my time watching Decimo. I was growing to like the boy, he was tenacious, his tutor made sure of that. I had no place to 'like' him, he was my descendent, that was all, just like all the eight others before him, it wasn't even my job to judge him, yet, like always, I broke the rules and judged him. Still, watching him get beaten black and blue by the young boy named Basil did set my teeth on edge. At the time I put it down to my distain for Decimo's weakness at such a critical time, not being able to control his dying will would one day kill his family, kill  _our_  family.

When I started calling Vongola ' _our_ ' family I don't really know. It was probably when I finally realised Decimo was trying to be different, trying to be a new type of boss. Maybe it was when he started progressing in his training, and I realised he was trying to protect his friends.

Decimo's father and his tutor were almost as curious to me as Decimo himself. It was a conversation they were having that most intrigued me, it sent my dulled hyper intuition into overdrive, I must admit, it gave me quite a headache.

" **The hyper dying-will mode uses more of a person's spirit, so it's really important to be able to control it.** "

What they were saying was true, dying will being the most basic, animal instincts can only last five minutes, and blocks all instinct of self-preservations, it's fairly dangerous really, and the time limit helped no-one. However,  _hyper dying-will mode_  is more dangerous if not controlled properly, it is calm, and every piece of intellect, planning, strategy is combined with the raw physical power to make a deadly combination. Also, as long as it is controlled, it lasts much, much longer than simple dying will ever could.

" **Besides, if he can't do that he won't be able to master** _ **that**_ **technique.** "

This is what piqued my inertest in the two men watching the boy get beaten. What was ' _that_  technique'? Somehow it gave me a very, very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, as if one hundred bullets were rattling inside me. I knew Decimo was training, and I knew it was needed, but somehow, the fact that he had a certain technique to learn, the way the men spoke about it, it just made me want to run in front of Decimo and demand they give up on him becoming Vongola Decimo immediately.

Of course, Decimo wasn't the only one training; I learned later that his cloud guardian was also being 'trained' by a Vongola ally who was close to Decimo. Of course, you couldn't truly call it training when the aloof, fairly violent guardian didn't believe that's what it was.

He was irritated by the blonde boss' presence- that was obvious from his body-language. His will was strongest of all Decimo's guardians, if not for a reason different from the others'. However, this young Chiavarone boss seemed to know what he was doing, which was a blessing for Decimo, it seemed only an experienced sky knew how to capture and tame clouds.

Alaude has always had a certain distantness within our 'family', he's always despised Lampo's idiocy, and has hated Daemon even more, he hated the closeness of the family, and whenever we gathered he'd be the furthest from the activity, while keeping a certain closeness to me. However, when he started watching that boy with raven hair and eyes, who was proclaimed Decimo's cloud guardian, I saw a change in Alaude. He would tell me he wasn't interested, that he was simply 'gathering information' as he always did, though I knew my aloof cloud better.

" _He is interesting. He could be strong if he weren't so weak."_

He's wander between the rings; he didn't like the Varia's cloud guardian at all. " _He never wears the ring."_  He'd told me. However, that wasn't the most threatening surprise, Alaude would send me messages when Decimo was in close proximity to his cloud that, of all the times the Varia's guardian actually  _did_ wear the ring, he couldn't get a reading on him, and that, he didn't like.

" _There isn't a_ single _piece of information I_ do not _know, he's breaking the laws, and I shall arrest him."_

Alaude's statement shook me; the fact that my cloud guardian, the leader of the information bureau, couldn't get a reading on the Varia's cloud guardian was worrisome to say the least.

Still, Alaude's attitude towards this Hibari Kyouya was interesting, I laugh at it now, he'd get this flash across his face, an instantaneous thing that even  _I_  didn't believe I saw, something no-one but I seemed to notice. The emotion was excitement. True, uncontrolled excitement and excitement in Alaude looked like a murderer sighting his next prey. He wanted to fight him. He truly wished he'd been born four hundred years later so he could have taken the tenth Vongola guardian of cloud on in a life-or-death battle.

Hibari Kyouya, one word to describe him is, indescribable. He is aloof, violent but also loyal beyond belief. Many people looked at him and scream in fear- Decimo being no exception- however, when Decimo needed him, or when his school was in danger, he was the first to attack. He certainly was someone to fear, he couldn't be told what to do, he did his own thing and didn't allow anyone to hold him down. I think he believed at first that his ring was tying him down, that if he wore the ring of Vongola on his finger he'd never be free. Though, over time, and experience with Decimo, I think he realised that Decimo would never bind him, that, as long as he did what was best for the 'famiglia' he would be free to do as he pleased. Hibari was, and still is today, the aloof cloud that cannot be caught, he wouldn't hesitate to strike down Decimo, or one of his enemies if they got in his way. He is a reckless fool who I believed would be the death of either Decimo in an attempt to save his cloud's life, or the famiglia in a thoughtless act of arrogance. His recklessness was to be feared, even when it was on  _your_ side. Untameable, unpredictable, like the clouds in the sky, very much like  _my_ guardian.

He was so much like my guardian, he even had this tenacity to make people angry with him, but where he could make anyone angry with a single word, he could make others laugh at the anger in the other.

" **If you don't fight seriously. I'll throw away this ring.** "

He was unbelievable, almost the exact same line as my guardian, all those years ago when he decided to become the unchained cloud for the Vongola. Sometimes I wonder how the real sky holds the clouds in its grasp, never mind the mafia families who follow in the sky's examples.

As word of the other guardian's progress reached me I grew more and more convinced that Decimo's guardian's were in-fact our reincarnations, however, I also grew increasingly worried that their advancements both physically and mentally would end up throwing them off their initial path, and inevitable towards corruption. That their power, coming too soon, would end up bringing enemies to wipe them our quicker than they could recover. That was my fear when Decimo and his friends started gaining power, with power comes jealously and hate, these emotions would most likely drive enemy families to extremes, and I feared that Decimo's family would be wiped out before ever knowing what had happened.

But I didn't know Decimo at the time, I didn't know how advanced he was, how so thoroughly suited he was to be a sky. While he grew and his guardians grew he kept them in line, he pointed and poked them in the direction that he wanted and needed them to go. I didn't realise that Decimo was protecting his guardians even before he knew himself.

The sun guardian. He was so much like Knuckle used to be, before his accident in the ring where he killed his opponent that is. Knuckle was very much like Decimo's sun guardian. Very bright, like the sun. He would always smile, even when he was sad, his smile was certainly infectious. After his accident it wasn't so infectious. In-fact I worried for his sanity; he had always been such a happy, rambunctious person, very, very much like the sun guardian of Decimo. However, as soon as he used too much strength, and took the life of a worthy opponent, all his joy vanished and he became empty. It was terrifying; I had never seen him so black, so dark. It was like a solar eclipse, Knuckle wouldn't look at us, and even G was worried. Lampo made an effort to joke around with my Sun, yet, it didn't seem to work. So when he found his place in the kingdom of God I was beyond joyous. He got the sun back into his eyes, he was much happier than he had ever been before, and he was still willing to fight for me, even when it was against his ideals.

Decimo's sun guardian was very, enthusiastic, he was willing to learn anything, and he was good at it too. I can honestly say he wasn't the smartest of the group- that would have to be the guardian of storm- but he was one of the most loyal and willing to give up everything for Decimo.

" **But I think I grabbed a hold of something… something that'll let me shoot a strong shot.** "

When I heard Knuckle comment on the sun's seriousness I scoffed it off. I had seen him a few times, and I knew he took things as a joke. He was an athlete, and I stuck to my first instinct that he was nothing more than a weak minded man who could only fight under the right situation, with rules. Battles have no rules. I made a mockery of him when I saw most of my guardians, he and the rain guardian too, that they were athletes. When Knuckle and even Ugetsu commented that I was being too harsh I shot down their excuses immediately.

" _When you were an athlete Knuckle, things were different, we still had wars and fighting, these children have grown up safely, their sports are simply ways to exercise, in a real fight they'd lose their lives."_

However, Knuckle implored me to watch his training, and I saw how serious the sun guardian, Ryohei, could become. When he finally grasped the control of his newest movement, and his face relaxed, his eyes shone with a resolve equal to Decimo's, he was a collected body of energy, he didn't yell, or scream, he spoke normally, and for some reason, that made me shiver with fear that I'd have to face him one day.

I was taken aback by two things. The first was Knuckle. He was never usually one to implore anything of me. He was a man of simple pleasures, he was happy at my side; I don't think I had ever seen him with such a look in his eyes. He was desperate for me to give the sun guardian a chance. So I did. And I must say I wasn't disappointed. The young man was going to make something great of himself one day, I wish I could apologize to him, though I still think he is only a very strong athlete, he earned enough of my respect to realise how serious he was about being Decimo's guardian. The second thing was the guardian of sun Decimo has chosen. He was an amazing young man, he was an idiota, a complete fool, it would take multiple tries, from insurmountable angles for him to understand the simplest strategy, yet, he was the most willing to die for his virtues. He learned quickly under the regime of 'practical learning' and was soon as versed in combat as the natural killer hidden in the rain was. He shocked me with his resolve. It is as simple as that.

However, my joy, though I never admitted it at the time, for Decimo's guardians' growth was short lived. I often checked up on Xanxas, at the time I has convinced myself it was to judge both candidates fairly, now I know it was because I truly worried for Decimo's death. At the time Decimo and his guardians were preparing, Xanxas and his guardians were too, they were preparing for the worst case scenario.

Xanxas and his family were preparing to obliterate Decimo's guardians, therefore guaranteeing their places as Vongola's tenth generation.


	5. It's As Simple As That

It had been five days since decimo and his guardians started training seriously. Decimo and his guardians were getting serious, or at least a few were. I still had my doubts about his rain and sun guardians, though I was the last person who should have judged them, I wasn't exactly conventional with my choices for guardians. On the fifth day, I had a pounding headache. It wasn't necessarily painful, more like a constant nagging in the forefront of my mind. It reminded me lightly of my hyper intuition, that strange sensation that something was going to happen. Something not good.

Of course, as I had done many times over my period watching Decimo and Xanxas, I took heavy note of the throbbing pain. I decided to watch decimo closely, much more closely than I had so far. I also kept a peripheral view of Xanxas; I feared that if I took my attention from him, for even a second, it would mean the end of decimo, and the end of our hope.

What I was more pleased with that I should have been was that my guardians and I were able to finally see Decimo's guardians' resolve. Since they had started training my guardians had become weary, they weren't sure whether they were capable of growing strong enough to carry our burden, and to protect their boss. Especially with Decimo's constant screams of protest. His denial about the fact he would one day become Decimo. During the coming days, my guardians and I met in the world of our rings, we couldn't meet for long, soon enough we were cast into our private worlds. However we met none the less.

Alaude for once expressed his opinion first. He had a curious statement.

" _Of all the times I've spent with that criminal's cloud guardian, I have been unable to get any readings from him."_  his statement was both concerning and intriguing. Alaude was the best of all of us at reading intentions, apart from myself of course.

Lampo was less than co-operative, he simply shrugged it off. He wasn't really bothered with Xanxas' guardian,  _"Too clingy to his boss."_ and was a little insulted by Decimo's.  _"A stupid, snot-nosed brat is taking Lampo-sama's place. It's ridiculous."_

Knuckle couldn't choose between his guardian counterparts. Both were boxers, both were as passionate as he had once been, however they were different. The one seemed to carefully choose his opponents, whereas the other simply fought to fight. This worried him.  _"It's extremely worrisome. However, he probably wouldn't be upset at the death of an opponent, honourable or not."_

" _We'll have to be weary of that then."_  I had explained to him. He gave me a simple reply to that.

" _Amen to that."_

However, it was Daemon who caused a shudder in my soul, and it wasn't necessarily his interest in his guardians.  _"Nufufufufu I am particularly interested with Decimo's guardian choice. Truly_ entertaining _."_ of course, I was wary about Daemon's past, all of us were. However, this curse, the curse of the Vongola rings, passing its form through the generations, he couldn't escape it. He had also never done anything to harm the Vongola. I doubted he would start now.  _"Xanxas' guardian is also entertaining. Such a dark, twisted secret. Nufufufu."_

It was my guardian's curiosity that stunned me into suspicion. They had caught glimpses of both guardian candidates when Daemon had decided to share his thoughts with us; however, they all started agreeing with him. Everyone of them started saying how  _"Promising."_  they were, especially Decimo's  _second_  mist guardian. The one who wanted to  _posses_  Decimo.

It was then that I started to suspect Daemon knew something, but I didn't act on it. Of course I couldn't act upon it. If Daemon knew I knew he was up to something, I'm not sure my soul could survive his torturous acts.

Ugetsu had been relatively silent through many of our debates; both his candidates were swordsmen, however, only one seemed to take it seriously.

" _It's worrisome Giotto. One of them thinks it's a_ game _! How can someone think swordplay is a game? At least the other knows what he's doing, and has accepted that swords mean being prepared to kill, or be killed by your opponent's blade every time he battles."_

" _I understand Ugetsu, however, times have changed, things that you once knew as ways to protect yourself in battle have been turned into safe competition."_  I knew Ugetsu was worried. On the one hand, Xanxas' guardian was fully immersed in our world, but was too used to the idea of killing for  _our_  original cause. Yet, Decimo's guardian thought of it as a game, he would be killed if he wasn't careful.

G often refused to comment on his two guardians. He would tell me his thoughts when we were alone, however, he would not comment before my other men.

" _He's dangerous Primo. Insanely so."_

" _I know G, Hayato needs to learn to center himself more."_

" _That's not who I mean, Giotto."_  I looked into the eyes of my guardian and his crimson hued orbs bore into my soul.

" _You mean Xanxas' storm?"_

" _Yes. He's insane. I thought Daemon was crazy, but this guy, he's messed up. He's a serious sadist. His demented little obsession with his throwing knives has lead to a dangerous skill. He killed his own brother, his family. Because he wanted to be king."_

" _He killed his own_ brother _?"_

" _Yes."_

We were silent for a long time after that. When G compared Xanxas' storm to Daemon, I thought he was joking, but the look in his eyes told me he certainly wasn't.

It was at this point in time all of Xanxas' guardians gathered with him. I started to like Xanxas less and less at this point too, he had his guardians gathered to him, through various connections to assassination teams and training groups. Yet, he seemed less than concerned with them. He seemed to have little, to no bond, treating them like disposable tools, yet, they were loyal to the point of insanity to him. He had twisted them with word or promise, I didn't know. But I didn't like it.

My guardians were enthralled with the mix of abilities displayed by the Varia. Daemon was particularly amused by his counterpart, whenever I saw him in the Varia headquarters, he'd be muttering about the battles that were to come, and about the secrets that had been unknowingly been revealed to him. Ugetsu wasn't in the least bit thrilled with his loud-mouthed, obtuse-tongued guardian candidate, I'd see him more frequently, considering his candidate was the second-in-command, yet, he'd always have this perplexed frown on his face, as if mulling over a puzzle. Knuckle was thrilled, at the same time as being worried that his guardian would end up with the same fate as himself, he was also a little worried about the… virtues… of his candidate. All in all, my guardians weren't hopeful for decimo. However, the more I started to learn about decimo, and the more I learned about Xanxas, the more I started to favour Decimo. There was something about him, something at the back of my head nagging me to help, to believe in him. He was so, likable, he was starting to gather enemies into his ranks, starting to gain allies that most wouldn't think of recruiting, and they were responding positively.

I have to say that watching his training with Reborn and Basil was entertaining. At first, I didn't really understand what was happening. He was scrawny, pale, and running around in his underwear. What exactly was I suppose to think? However, as days passed, I realised something. Decimo was taking the training seriously.

For all his protested and all his denial, decimo was taking his tutor's training seriously. It was something I had never expected from the boy. Though he screamed, he complained, and he moaned about the intensity. and how he didn't want to be decimo, he did listen, and he learned.

" **Six minutes have passed.** "

It was curious really. Decimo used gloves to control his dying will, exactly the same as I once used. The irony of it all had started snowballing, his will to protect his friends, the purity of his dying will flame, the gloves he used to power his attacks. So many similarities, yet so many differences between the two of us; separated by nine generations.

He was progressing extremely quickly. That made me wonder why my guardians couldn't see his potential. He was gaining power, and resolve with each passing day, becoming more and more involved with the training her said he despised. He was very different to me in this aspect I believe, I had always had the resolve to protect my friends, and I never made excuses. He complained he didn't have a choice, however, I believe he just didn't like the choices he was given. He loved his friends, just as much as I did when I was alive, and to protect them, he had to train to become a mafia boss, if he didn't train, they'd be dead.

Whenever I saw Ugetsu, during the training period before the half-ring conflicts, I was greeted with excited calls and smiles I hadn't seen in a while. He was so enthusiastic about the natural Hitman decimo had chosen for his rain guardian that he almost forgot we weren't meant to choose sides.

" _He's a natural swordsman."_ Ugetsu had said his smile was wide and happy.  _"But, I fear he doesn't realise exactly what he's given up."_

Ugetsu had always been wary of sacrifices made, ever since he gave up his dreams. Though the boy decimo had chosen as his rain guardian was a natural, even if he believed he was playing a game, he was giving up a large part of his life. You could see the passion in his eyes that he held for baseball, you could also see the pride growing for Shigure Souen style of swordplay. Though I wasn't there to see him train, or to see his pride grow, Ugetsu was, and through him, through his speech, and his movement, I was able to feel the rain guardian of Decimo's pride and resolve.

Another's whose resolve became apparent was the guardian of storm. Gokudera Hayato; smoking bomb Hayato. It seemed that after Decimo's words of anguish during his earlier training session, the storm quietened and worked towards appreciating his own life. G was pleased with the way he was handling himself, and slowly, but surely he was maturing into the right-hand-man he was capable of being.

When his unconventional teacher tried giving him a hint to a new technique, no matter how strange I think that hint was, Hayato really did try to understand, G could see it in his face. However, his brash, impatient nature got the better of him. Not that any of us were surprised.

" _Still just a brat. Che. Why_ he _has to be the new storm guardian I don't know."_

Decimo's training halted that evening, and I knew something had to go wrong. Decimo was progressing too quickly, he was already starting to get a handle on his dying will, starting to be able to concentrate it, even if only slightly.

That was when they arrived. Two guardians of the Varia. Like a chill they rolled into Namimori, looking for the half-Vongola rings. Of course, decimo and his guardians were completely unaware of the impending threat on their town.

The thunder guardian, Levi, has a simple objective for his men. One that would lead to the point of no return. When Lampo told me of the impending threat, even in his uninterested tone I could tell he was worried.

" **The wielder of the ring of thunder, along with anyone who interrupts. Eliminate them.** "

The pocket watch in my breast pocket grew cold when I heard what had been ordered. Yes decimo was getting stronger. But to face the Varia. He was not ready.

If he had to face the Varia so soon, Decimo would die. It was as simple as that.


	6. Unexpected Guests and Inexperienced Fighters

" **Some unexpected guests have arrived sooner than we thought.** **"**

He was smirking. _Smirking._  His son was going to die a painful, gruesome death, and the leader of the CEDEF was  _smirking._

At least at that point in time, I knew both Reborn, and the apprentice of the CEDEF leader weren't so thick-headed, they at least looked apprehensive. Of course, Decimo was completely out of it, I personally blame the tutor. With such a threat on his tail, so close to Decimo, Decimo should have been informed, at least that way, he was better prepared to die.

Of course I knew who the threat was, it was the Varia. Vongola's strongest, most brutal fighters, I mean, I had been following them, and so had my guardians. The fact that Decimo's advisors had expected  _fake_ rings to fool the Varia was a true shock to me… of all the schemes they could have come up with, all the traps and all the games to give decimo time, the use of fake rings was one I would never have used.

Xanxas wasn't an ignorant fool. He was smart, scarily so. Even without the hyper intuition handed down from each man of Vongola blood, to his son, and then to his son again, Xanxas has intuition, he has  _experience_ , and that, is a dangerous ally.

For some reason, one beyond my ability to foresee trouble, I  _feared_  for the  **Varia**. They were arrogant fools. They were, and still are the strongest fighters, most skilled in all their fields, no one could deny that, no one could beat them… yet, as I watched both 'families' I couldn't help but believe that the Varia were the ones that were going to fall. Their arrogance and experience meant that they couldn't evolve as fast as Decimo and his famiglia were prone to; the Varia were stuck at their level, needing a lot more strength before they were noticeably stronger, whereas Decimo and his guardians improved greatly as each hour went by.

" **Go and find him.** "

The Varia arrived, swiftly, and without fault. Silently, in the dead of the night. They had one mission: seek and destroy. Levi was the guardian of thunder. I didn't know much about him, Lampo had no interest in these matters, he was lazy, and wished to keep his aristocratic ways even into our cursed death. The few things I did learn about him from Lampo was that he was irrationally loyal, to the point where he thought his boss' mood swings and murderous ways were normal signs of affection and gratitude towards him. What Lampo said about Decimo's guardian was completely different. That he was a brat, and that Decimo was an idiota for ever choosing him as his guardian, that Decimo would die at the hands of such 'protection'.

So, filtering into the night like mist into the air, the Varia's lighting guardian appeared. He hit the ground, found his way to the earth, just like his uncontrollable counterpart. He was grounded, followed by his loyal subordinates. He sent them off, into the night, like the wind. I knew something would go wrong, even Lampo knew.

Of course, from the little I learned from Daemon, he wasn't alone.

" _An interesting toy arrived with that lightning dog... it should make form some interesting brawls."_  Of course, this didn't spark any kind of confidence in me, or any of my other guardians for that matter. Daemon was serious. He was particularly interested in Decimo's guardian of mist, telling us little to nothing about the chosen tenth generation; however the way he described the Varia's choice, his face was twisted into an unmistakable mask of desire to fight.

" **You said they won't be coming for the next ten days!** "

Of course Decimo was tense. He had already met the guardian of rain for the Varia. If he were calm I would have been disgusted. The rain guardian wasn't even the strongest of the Varia guardians, he was however, one of the more brutal and skilled. Decimo complained to his tutor, something I still believed he had all the right to do, telling him how they weren't ready. At least he was smart enough to know that.

It was when Decimo met with some of the female friends who followed him that I noticed the tension in his back and shoulders solidify. He had been tense since the whole fiasco with his father had started, but when the girls explained to him that the three children wards he had taken under his wing weren't with them, and that they were alone, I swore I heard Decimo's patience snap.

" **That's bad.** "

I wanted to kill the tutor for his comment. 'Bad'? Was he an idiot? I was under the impression up until then that the Arcobaleno were  _the_  strongest, smartest, and most skilled. However, this _Reborn_  character made me want to posses the Decimo and murder him right there. It wasn't just  _bad_  that the children were alone while a murderous psychopath was roaming around; it was grave; there wasn't even a word that could describe it.

At this point, Decimo's emotions were a whirlwind of different extremes. He was trying to put up a calm front, making the girls feel at ease with the fact that not any of the children were in a known, safe location. On the other end of the spectrum, his usually public skitterishness was wreaking havoc in his mind, screaming complaints and terrors that I'm sure the tutor could read, despite the boy's heroic efforts to calm the girls before him. For that I was proud at least; a leader should never worry his friends, this was a lesson Decimo was most serious about. Then again, there was also tipping balance in the boy that I'm  _sure_  only I, being more than able to see into the boy's heart, could see. There was the calm, calculating intuition that had passed form me, all the way down to him ten generations over, thinking over the situation, analysing it, calming his very primitive instincts to flee, demanding he stood and fought. His 'hyper' mode as people started referring to it was in a battle constantly battling over each other. His blood lust, the absolute protective side of him that by all rights should have overpowered every natural instinct in his body had it not been for the 'hyper' intuition engraved into the very fibres that also held that protectiveness, was on tipping point. Upon hearing the girls worries that something bad would happen to not only his young lighting guardian, but the two other children Mafioso, the protective instincts, both associated with his slow acceptance of his position as Vongola Don, and the brotherly side of him that had been ignited by each, and everyone of his guardians after meeting each one of them, Decimo's mind had begun the gruelling battle over what was right. His intuition quelling the desperate need to protect, while the suicidal protectiveness inside the boy's heart spurred the intuition into a fury of thoughts, plans, and glimpses of a future should he fail in his duty to protect what he loved.

" **We'd better find them before they do.** "

When his tutor uttered these blasphemous words Decimo reeled. He may not have shown it outwardly, but I have a feeling he was much more 'with the programme' than everyone gave him credit for. He must have felt it, the stir in his heart when his storm guardian addressed him by his title, or when someone said his 'guardians' were in danger form attack. He cannot have been so thick in the skull, or else, no matter the natural ability to be a mafia boss, he would have died the moment he started training.

So when Decimo outwardly didn't understand his tutors words, looking confused while his eyes screamed to the world his desperate understanding, I know his mind was prepared. His intuition decided to stop fighting with Decimo's inner demon, deciding to side with the overprotective nature the future boss naturally fuelled.

" **Go find and eliminate them** "

This is when I got a message across the weak connection I have with all my guardians. Lampo of all people was screaming blue murder, demanding to know where the decimo was, and who, in a matter f second his descendent was going to be murdered by a ruthless, irrationally loyal dog.

Of course, the first thing I thought was how out of character it was for Lampo to worry about his descendents, and second was the gut-wrenching fear I felt for Decimo. I have never really experienced a loss of a guardian. But Decimo thinks of the small boy –all the children in fact- as his actual sibling, so to lose him, when he is only five-years into this life, I didn't want it to happen. It is only the second time I've ever wanted to help one of my descendents; both times being for the boy in front of me.

Of course, it was only then that Decimo really learned who his guardian was. He protested, the conscious part of him keeping up the rouse that he was a cowardly idiot by arguing with his tutor about the fact that Lambo, the lighting guardian, was too young, he was stupid, he shouldn't be dragged into the stupid mafia facade that reborn was trying to pull. Of course, his intuition side, the side I think is more true to his nature, had a sneaking suspicion that the young cow-print child was his guardian, since the minute he truly looked at the ring suspended from his neck, he felt a connection with all the bearers of the ring. He was almost certain he knew who held the others, though, he would never admit it to himself; it would almost be like he was admitting he was going to be Vongola Decimo. But I knew different. It was the way he was more shocked by the fact his 'intuition' was right that told me he was seriously thinking about becoming boss to protect the things that were precious to him.

Of course, as Decimo ran, and as the consciousness of my lightning guardian neared, his outwardly form being much more solid than mine because of the closeness of his two halves, I watched Decimo's panic, and seemed to be the only one who caught the bloodlust that blasted through the air when Decimo saw the man attacking the three children as they ran. Of course, he reined it in, knowing full well that if his tutor caught wind of the strength of his resolve he wouldn't hear the end of it.

However, as I spied Lampo's form, biting his knuckle in the corner, only being able to watch with unrest as his descendents dukes it out for the rings; albeit in a dirty, disrespectful way. But my famiglia was a mafia now, not a vigilante group bent solely on protection of precious people. His eyes were wide with worry, and if anyone but I saw him in such a state, I don't think he's live it down. But I knew better, I knew that under his aristocratic ways, under the premed etiquette and lazy demeanour, Lampo was a family man, he cared for each and every one of my guardians as if they were his big brothers; I knew he hated seeing such a young child- not really that different to himself- being dragged into and threatened by an enemy even he knew they couldn't beat.

I had to admit, even though Lampo feinted that he didn't care about the ring battles. That he didn't care for who took on the lighting title, and that he  _really_  didn't care for the five-year-old Mafioso, I knew better. Of the two, the lighting dog, or the cry-baby Mafioso, Lampo would vote the child to take his position any day under any condition. It wasn't just for the abilities he knew the boy possessed, but the demeanour in which he preformed his everyday activities. Lampo knew that, when the cow-child was grown- he would embody lighting the way Lampo had; the way I had intended him to. I noticed, as the days wore on during our time with Decimo that Lampo spent more and more conscious time with Lambo, he watched Decimo more and more, spending time with me as I sided with Decimo's half of the squillo del cielo. Even if he wouldn't admit it, I knew Lampo really  _did_  like Decimo more than he did Xanxas.

While I mused over Lampo's preference to the soft-hearted boy, I felt another presence enter my field of awareness. It was an aura I knew well. One I regretted a lot, for his involvement with me caused him great strife, and conflicting feelings over whether he should follow his friend, or his faith.

" **Vongola famiglia's guardian of the sun...is here!** "

Watching Decimo's reaction n warmed my heart... I suppose you couldn't really say 'watching' it was more like feeling. Again there were the conflicting emotions wreaking havoc inside his head and his heat. He was shocked, outwardly, to see his 'big brother' there with him, but he was inwardly grateful. His sun really did warm up any situation, making Decimo feel safe and protected. Of course, there was also the guilt and fear that his affiliation with the mafia, no matter the strength of his guardians, would be the death of the blazing ball of energy.

Knuckle appeared beside Lampo, a hand on the young boy's shaking shoulder, reassuring him that everything would turn out ok in the end. Then, my dark haired guardian looked at me, a sad smile on his face. I knew that boy was too much like him for his own good. The haunted feelings in my guardian's eyes are testimony to the work the boy has put into his boxing, and the willingness he possesses to use that strength for Decimo.

" **E-everyone's...** "

More presences appear with the rush of nostalgia. Warm hands came down on my shoulders as Decimo's eyes filled with uncharacteristic tears. He knew he shouldn't feel such happiness at seeing his friends, fighting stances ready, protecting the young Mafioso they had all come to love. But he did.

Honestly, when his entire mind, body, and soul relaxed at the presence of his guardians, I don't think I could be prouder of Decimo. For all his protests, and all his outright refusals to any relation to the mafia, he was becoming a boss... but not like Secondo, or even Nono, he was more like me, not a mafia boss, but what  _I_  had started out to be.  _I_  had wanted to find a way to protect myself, my friends, and my famiglia, Decimo is the same.

" _Primo. It seems like the brats are finally growing up a bit huh?"_ G appears at my right, a hand on my shoulder, his crimson eyes not as harsh as they used to be. It seems the young storm, Hayato, has softened the raging clouds that are my storm.

" _It looks like that young boy-boss has changed you, Giotto."_ Ugetsu laughs softly from my left as he watches Decimo's face at the sight of his young guardians.

Despite Ugetsu's reluctance to accept the young rain guardian, I really do think he's drawn to the boy. I think his choice in Xanxas' rain as true successor was the fact that the boy is  _exactly_  like him. He is obsessed with a western sport, just as Ugetsu was obsessed with his music, yet, both are, and have, willingly given up what they love for their bosses. I think Ugetsu hopes the boy can still turn back, that he can still forget about the mafia business and be a child for a little longer, play his baseball and never give it up. But, he knows the feeling of obligation, he gave up his music for me, a debt I have yet to repay, he knows the boy will inevitable give up his love for his boss, and I think that is where the tables will turn and Ugetsu will pick Decimo's guardian as his true successor.


	7. Sun guardians - Battles of the perpetual light

So, like the ticking of the pocket watch in my breast pocket, or the slow river of sand from an hour glass, the time for battle had arrived. A time of great anticipation-  _great_  anticipation. Especially for one Decimo candidate. He dreaded this time. More than anything he had ever experienced before.

This was another fact about Decimo that left me pondering his true intentions; his true thoughts.

People say he and his guardians are our 'reincarnations' that is the wrong word. Decimo and Vongola's decimo guardians personify the  _original_  intention of my friends and I. We were a vigilante group, we sought to protect our loved ones, and slowly we grew in size, drowned in blood, and became one of the strongest mafia famiglia in the world. However, it remains to this day, that Vongola has  _always_ aimed for the protection of loved ones. It has yet to be seen however, a generation truly dedicated to this end.

That is until Decimo and his guardians became candidates for the name Vongola. So when the time came for the true fight for these titles, I was incredibly surprised by Decimo's similarity to myself and my friends. During the time I fought, I always hated dragging my friends into the conflicts; they all had to suffer something for my selfish desire to protect.

G joined me loyally, almost without thought into his actions. I sometimes believe I took away his freedom of choice; he has always been loyal to the point of coming close to death for my sake.

Ugetsu gave up his whole life; he gave up music. And to this day he finds it with great difficulty to even pick up a flute. He still hasn't played the song I find so soothing.

Alaude, so aloof and alone. I feel I have taken much, if not all of his freedom from him. Behind tethered to me, like the clouds to the sky, I feel he's given up more than he'll ever be able to understand.

Daemon, he has always wanted the best for his mafia family. I believe that is one of the reasons we spilled so much blood. He's given up everything, even his innocent love, for my famiglia, I believe this is a debt I will never repay. Even after all that he has done to my famiglia and my friends.

Lampo. I don't even have to say anything. He is young. Though in a mafia family by birth, no child should have to have blood stain their skin, yet, I've made him a guardian, I've stained him. I've made him suffer great nightmares and pain for my own selfish aspirations.

Knuckle. I've probably caused him the greatest pain. He killed a man, by his hand, even before he joined me. It was an accident of course, a simple miss thrown fist in the ring. His life revolved around boxing. We had been friends long before we had been famiglia, so I knew exactly how Knuckle had trained his body, and his mind in the discipline of the dangerous sport. So I also knew the true agony his mind suffered when his stray fist ended the life of another. It changed his life; he wasn't as 'EXTREME' after the death. He blames himself, even when he had no reason to. They both stepped into the ring on that day expecting a fair fight, expecting whatever their opponent thrown at him; both fighting preparing for injury, and the possible idea of death.

Seeing his dull eyes and his shaking form on the day, and even days after, his fight wrecked my soul, he was not the sun I knew anymore. I had always seen him as a sun, as a bright, warming light to my friends and I, even before we were officially famiglia. So watching the sun wreck himself over something that could easily be forgiven, it killed me daily.

Finally, when Knuckle found the reassuring arms of God as a place to reside in, to find and forgive himself again, I almost cried with joy. I simply pulled him into a warm embrace and welcomed him home.

As my guardian, I feel I've taken almost everything from him. When he agreed to be my guardian, I didn't really want to believe it. Out of everyone, I think I took the most time making sure he was ok with what he was doing. I explained I was asking him to hurt- kill- my enemies for the protection of  _my_  famiglia. Knuckle simply smiled his warm smile.

" _Giotto, this isn't your famiglia. This is our famiglia."_

To this day I regret that any of my guardians  _are_  my guardians. Not because they're weak. Not because of all the pain I've gone through because of them. No, I regret it because of all the pain they've had to go through because of  _me_. Everyone has given something up; everyone has had to forfeit something for my selfish escapade in protecting things  _I_  love. To me, their true happiness is a sacrifice too big for the things we've gained. Not even a single moment of their happiness is equal to the power we've gain, the loss is too great.

So when I realised Decimo's guardian's similarity with Knuckle- beyond their eerie appearance- I wanted to choke the life out of Decimo and his 'tutor' for their choice and the inevitable pain they were inflicting on the ever smiling, loudmouth boy known as Ryohei Sasagawa.

He wasn't like Knuckle was after he joined my famiglia; he was Knuckles before he killed his opponent. A happy, bubbly, burning sun that brightened every aspect of Decimo's life.

Watching the interactions with decimo on their daily meetings, I spy Knuckle occasionally -as he often stayed away from both guardians- waited behind his descendent with a soft smile on his face before disappearing back into a coma-like state inside the rings. I knew that expression. It was a sadness he had expressed to me long ago.

" _To be drowned in the darkness of_ _our_ _world at such a young age saddens me. May God have mercy on them. Amen."_

These statements made me quake with fury. At the time I felt a childish pang of jealousy I knew I had no right to feel. I questioned why  _ **my**_  guardians had to give up, and suffer so much in their lives when Decimo's guardians had given up  _ **nothing**_. They still had their peaceful lives. They still smiled and laughed with each other. What made my guardians the ones to suffer? What made these ignorant children so special? I seethed, I will admit to it, I seethed and cursed-cursed Decimo and his guardians- I even admit to wishing their suffering and their early painful deaths.

And I admit to being guilty and cold when I realised my words and thoughts.

My guardians had all willingly joined me, they had all willingly made their sacrifices, and much like Decimo's guardians had done. We still laughed and smiled, and we were still happy. If I had anyone to blame for my guardian's sadness and loss of life it was myself. After all, I was the one who wrought the steel for Vongola creation from the fires of my determination and the skills of my hands.

These realizations made me understand that each of Decimo's guardians  _ **had**_  given up something precious to them, willingly, and had found something more precious in return. Decimo's sun being no exception.

" **Ahh! I'm so nervous!"**

Decimo's words grated me a little, and I didn't really know why. It could have been because he was being pathetically open about his emotions. It could have been because he was stating the obvious. It could be because his words showed he doubted his guardian. Or it could be that it proved he was openly worrying about the boy whom was about to throw his life away in a mafia fight he had seemingly no interest in fighting.

It was more likely than not because of a little of everything. It also annoyed me that a mafia boss was so scatterbrained, so ridiculously open with his emotions and thoughts. It was unbecoming and truthfully disgusting to watch.

Those thoughts scared me.

I was never so cold and calculating, so when was it I became such a typical mafia tyrant?

I silenced myself with my musings, was I really so cold and distant when I died. This was so curious, I realised quickly after waking in the perpetual darkness of the ring that each of my guardians kept their personalities from their youth, but that they also often fell into the personality they held at the time of their deaths, so I can only assume that was the case for me; but if that is true, then how much suffering did I inflict upon my enemies when I chose to act for the  _mafia_  in which I never dreamed of being a part of?

" **This is a special arena we've prepared for the match between the guardians of the Sun."**

I could almost feel the tension in Decimo's hands, the clamminess had settled as he watched the ring light up, but there was something strange in his face, something of relief flickered across his eyes.

I know I saw it, even if the children on the other side of the wring didn't see it behind his panicked, and pathetic display of cowardice and fear.

I can honestly say that I dislike this tradition the Cerevello have developed. I knew a time would some where the choosing of guardians and bosses would waver and arguments would occur, but never had I thought that some new famiglia –one I remember starting during the end of my reign- would take the opportunity to act in this farce as mediators, it irritated me that this was happening and that Vongola was allowing it to happen.

" **Yeah!"**

The sun guardian's voice rang out in the area, and I was taken aback by the force in the voice. My eyes drifted over to Knuckle, his face a show of incredulity and disbelief. This boy was excited about the arena, about the fight, and I could tell- form his posture and Knuckle's expression- that the boy was excited to be fighting  _for_  Decimo.

" **The ring is my territory."**

Just those words alone tore through me, they were the words Knuckle used to scream at the top of his lungs before he became my guardian, and I could see a nostalgia resting in his eyes, because he longed for the days where he could train without fear of retribution, and where a three minute limit was not placed upon his shoulders.

I walked over then, soon joined by my friends as both halves of their souls were united in one place. Of course Daemon and Alaude were nowhere to be seen, and Lambo was sleeping in a corner, but that wasn't really a surprise to me. It was strange to be together again, we were split long before we were given to Decimo, and now that we were together again I could honestly feel happy.

" _It has been a while my friend. I do hope that you and your candidates are doing well."_

" _Ah, Giotto, I am well, the Lord is seeing to that. Both candidates are strong, and both are fighters, well trained and proud. I do feel for them though Giotto. One fights for his friends and one for his life, and that may lead to a dangerous result; may the Lord have mercy."_

" _Che. Both are brats, this whole charade of a competition is simply slaughter!"_

" _G."_ I smiled, my friend was rarely with the hot-headed silvernette often siding with the blonde-haired tiara wearing boy on the Varia's side, and I wasn't so surprised.

" _Your boy Giotto is ridiculous, look at him cower."_

Of course G was right, the boy was cowering on the floor, or fussing with the Sun guardian as he pumped his fists into the air, and I was not happy. I was feeling dark and dangerous, and I hated it. What calmed me was when I realised what G had called Decimo.  _'My Boy'_  that made me pause for thought, because, wasn't I always calling him Decimo, and calling Xanxus 'the Varia' surely that meant I had faith?

Of course I had little time to think when the match started. I was focused on the boys fighting, aware that the knee of the Varia's guardian was going to test the boxer boy to the limits, I was worried, terribly so, because I did not want something so similar to Knuckle's experience to happen to this boy- why? I do not know. Because he looked like Knuckle?; Well I really hope I'm not as shallow as that. Because everything else was falling into place for Decimo's generation as it did for ours?; very possibly.

Then my rain guardian started laughing, full, happy laughter. I looked at him strangely, as did knuckle and G, because it had been a while –before Nono's generation was bestowed the rings- since we had heard his musical laughter. Though, in his fit of bubbling laughs all he could do was point towards the circle of Decimo's guardians as they cheered on the blonde boxer before he stepped into the ring.

" **Alright, my ultimate power is emerging now!"**

How strange. He was actually spurred on by such simplistic actions. I warmed me, because they were children, and even in this serious battle, with monsters bearing down on them, they could be children.

" _Well I never."_ G mumbled to himself, and I do believe he was starting to see the bright side of the non-mafia Decimo. It was hard not to, when one realises that we did the same things at their age, right before playful competitions, or serious missions where smiling was hard to do before or after.

" **That kid... He's unlucky."**

I whirled around when I heard the lightning of Varia mutter that line, because I didn't really understand why that was. Surely if what the strangely bird-man had said was true then the Sun of Decimo was going to be in for an easy fight where the sun of Varia let him off and let him one. Though there was something dangerously sinister in the eyes of the Sun guardian, and I knew Decimo would face mental and emotional pain through tonight, and probably many nights to come.

Light exploded form the arena as the sun itself descended from the sky to witness the fight. I watched, mutely aware of Decimo's growing tension, and the growing morbidity of Knuckle as the kicks were thrown again and again into the opposing Sun's stomach.

" _How tasteless."_  Asari's face was emotionless, all except the scowl between his eyebrows as he watched the fight, we both knew- we all knew- that Decimo's guardian would have little chance in the blazing ring, not against an opponent who was both wearing eye protection and was a trained assassin. I had hoped that maybe his training would help, that his passion and belief would give him a fighting chance in this battle. I suppose my intuition was getting dull after so many centuries.

Another punch and a kick threw the flailing Sun guardian into the wires, and even Lampo made a noise of disgust when the boy screamed in pain. Electrified wires. There was nothing more cruel than adding to the torture of a boy, and a boy who had seemingly no idea of the mafia and exactly what the fight he was in risked.

" _He's fighting so hard."_

He was, he was still standing, fighting, flailing pathetically in the bright light with eyes closed and senses open, and it wasn't helping. I wanted so much to stop this, because this was cruelty to the nth degree, and this was wrong. This was everything I could not stand about the mafia, it was cruelty and torture all personified into one gruesome game to watch and enjoy.

Then something amazing happened. In the blink of an eye, something I wished I had witness happened. The Varia guardian was flying through the air, an impact mark making itself visible square on his face. The only thing telling me I had missed something amazing was the echoing words of Decimo's guardian.

" **Stop kidding around!"**

Just when I thought he had a chance to win, that Decimo- my chosen successor- would win, blood exploded from the sun guardian's hand and arm, a pressure wave form the impact with the opposing guardian's knee. I knew then that things were going to get harder and harder, they were going to test everyone to the limit, and someone would be hurt beyond repair from these happenings.

" **Go and show him your true strength, Ryohei."**

I never understood, and still do not understand how a few words can change entire situations. They can be blessings or curses; I've never really been affected by words, or, not for the longest of times. I believe when I was younger, when G was telling me that fighting- if for those I loved- was a good thing, and that protecting the weak was something is should do, I remember those words affecting me. Does that mean that I have grown too old and too used to things being difficult? When was it I lose my pure and whole hearted belief in getting strong enough to save and protect what I wanted?

Everything changed with the words of the Arcobaleno. His stance, his aura; even Decimo changed just a little. It was as if he fed off of the aura of his guardians, and I knew he felt useless being outside the ring, only being able to cheer and tell them that  _he_  believed in them; that he would  _always_ believe in them. I knew this because he was like me. He was simply living for the sake of his friends.

" _T-That little bastard."_  G was on his feet- hacing been sitting on the floor with little apparent intrest in the fight- and was looking at the boxer with interest, not looking at the upright Varia member, but above him. At the lights that blinded everyone.

" **I hit for sure."**

He hadn't aimed for the lights. I knew exactly why G wa so gobsmacked by the boy's actions. He had never struck me- or anyone from our various meetings- as the intelligent type. He was very much an 'actions-speak-louder-than-words, and 'jump-in-with-two-feet' type of man. Yet here he was, using straytegy, and amazing strategy at that. It was something noen of us were exepecting; especially not G who had once told me:  _"That boy will be the end of Vongola, he is too ignorant and oblivious to strategy. He will get his boss killed."_

We watched then, as the boy's trick was noticed and explained, but that didn't take away any of the awe. The boy couldn't have known he would sweat enough to make salt crystals, he couldn't have known that he's need to use the salt as projectiles, he couldn't have  _known_  before hand about any of it. So he was simply amazing, because he deduced it in a split second and used it to his advantage.

Alaude appeared then. He stood beside me, and I suppose he found something interesting if he were to appear now of all time. What I hadn't expected was the outright smirk and laugh that bubbled from his lips for a second when the Arcobaleno on Decimo's shoulder spoke of 'Varia Quality' and the reason behind the strength of the men fighting for the place as Tenth boss.

" _These boys are not quality. I will arrest them for contesting they are the best of the best."_

I did not argue with him, but I did not totally agree either. They were strong, they were ripping Decimo's guardian apart, solely ripping his arms so he could no longer fight. Though, another surprise awaited us when the Sun guardian's sister arrived. Her words were grievous, tired and worried, she wanted an end to this fight, something I think all of my own guardians could agree with, and her brother looked convinced for a second when he saw the soul-deep terror in her eyes when his opponent prophesised his death.

" **I will not lose."**

This was something I understood completely. Words of victory and confidence brought on by the will to protect friends who you considered family. There was just something magical about the courage that protective instincts brought about. I was never so glad for Decimo and his guardians than when his Sun spoke such confident words.

It ended quickly then. The Varia's guardian's knee was shattered, his leg torn up by the energy reserved within Decimo's Sun's body, and he fell to the floor quickly. You could see panic in his eyes, and I knew that was fear for his life when his boss found out his loss. You could see the terror and the adrenaline rush when he tried to stand and fight again only to fall and wobble where he stood.

Of course his fears were realised when energy, fiery, burning, furious energy collided with his back and sent him to the ground. My eyes searched the crows, resting on the golem that stood guard of the other guardians. His eyes were red, like his bosses, and I knew the orders were directly from Xanxus.

I blanked most of the words at that point, completely aware they were important and cold. I saw no rebuff for the man with the flaming guns for ordering the attack of his own guardian, for I knew he had little fault in his actions; as cruel as that might be. He was an assassin; failure and weakness were  _not_  an option in his line. In fact, ridding himself of the weak was probably going to save him and his guardians in the future.

We were walking away then, Knuckle at the side of his victor, and the others going with the Varia- those they believed still superior and suitable for Decimo- and I noticed something. Everyone was starting to become more like the people they were before the mafia really caught up to them.

" _Maybe this farce of a battle won't be such a bad thing for us..."  
_


	8. Lightning quick

I in all my centuries and my life have not seen a candidate so nervous and edgy about a conflict battle as Decimo. The boy had so little faith in his guardians that I felt insulted for them. Though, I suppose it wasn't a lack of faith in them but maybe in himself? The boy had been subject to bullying as I figured out, so I assume that his self-esteem was rather low.

That didn't mean that he should be so jumpy though.

" **The floor is shining!"**

I was sick to my stomach watching as the lightning danced and arced around the pattern on the floor. It was ingenious, that was not even up for debate, but it was such an outrageous murder device, and no matter the amount of time I spent in torture/interrogation chambers I will never understand how people could design them.

" **You'll be burnt to death just from standing on it!"** I just managed to stop myself form leveling Tsunayoshi with deadpan look. The boy was not smart, but I thought he was beyond stating the obvious. Even his Tutor gave him a look of incredulity. Though I suppose Decimo wasn't chosen for his brains.

Lambo, the lightning guardian, saw the flashing and arcing and his eyes lit up with joy. Something about shining electricity caused the child to believe the arena was a playground. Lampo beside him stiffened, realising the same thing.

" **Hey Lambo, it's dangerous!"** Of course it was, the arena was unknown to Decimo and anyone else. Only the Cerevello  _truly_  knew what it was capable of.

And then they arrived, I had known the lightning of the Varia had been waiting for a long time, but the shadows parted and the rest of the assassin troupe appeared as if summoned by the call of an imminent death. It was with some sick satisfaction that the Varia watched the little child playing in Tsunayoshi's grip. The teen had quite the grip on the child.

" **If you don't want to go, you don't have to."** That was the first time I truly saw the compassion of Decimo. It was obvious in other things, but in those words he abandoned his outward cowardice and allowed just a little of his resolve to paint his every-day persona. I was proud in that moment, because he was protecting those under his care. He was starting- in that moment- his road towards making Vongola Vigilante once again.

" _What a weakling."_  G scoffed, though I noticed that he wasn't on Varia's side. Instead, my red-haired right hand was standing just to the left of his candidate on Tsunayoshi's side. It was nice to see, even if he wouldn't admit to being disturbed by Belphegor.

" _Would you have said the same about us all those years ago, G?"_  I looked into my right hand's eyes, because I wanted the truth, I wanted  _G's_  response. I didn't want the Vongola Primo right hand's response; I wanted my friend, my brother's ideas about Decimo generation candidates.

" _I would have, and I did. These children are like us, so painfully like us. But this time and that time are different. Vongola isn't new and malleable, it is hardened by bloody tradition; these children can't fight steel tradition. Xanxus and his troupe at least can live the tradition."_

I watched him rant for a moment, able to read the panic and- somewhere deep and hidden- the worry for lost lives of the young.

" _But is that what you want for Vongola, G, to stick to this bloodied, grim tradition?"_  
He didn't answer me, and that hurt more than if he had told me yes. He faded away, not looking in my eyes. I simply bowed my head in defeat. That hasn't been the answer I wanted.

A heavy hand settled on my shoulder and I looked over to see Knuckle and Ugetsu smiling softly at me. Both had heavy expressions, but at the same time had a hope in their eyes. One I hadn't seen in quite a few years.

Lightning stuck, and every head shot up to watch the Cow-child and the battle that had just begun. It was sick really, that we were so concerned with watching a child's demise; though for once there were a few that watched on without the morbid fascination.

Tsuna's storm, rain, and sun looked on with total, unwavering worry, and I could see Tsunayoshi's hands clench in complete horror. There were a few things that Tsunayoshi wasn't; strong, brave, a Boss. But there were a few things that Tsunayoshi  _was_  heart, soul, and flame; resolved, protective, and loyal.

All three children watched on, ready to intervene regardless of the consequences. The storm, so much like an immature G, and he was immature. G had to suffer the life on the streets with me, by fourteen he was already a man; but this candidate wasn't. He was genuinely worried about the lightning child, after all with the storm comes the lightning they are brothers even if they have never met. It's instant kinship.

The rain watched on with disgust, a complete civilian. He was becoming aware,  _very slowly_  that the 'game' his friends were involved with was not a game. It was real, the blood, the training and the consequences were  _real_. Ugetsu had tried to explain to me how the boy thought, because he enjoyed the boy's presence- the purity mostly. Though, I still didn't understand. How could the boy see it all, experience it all, and still not understand that what he was involved in was not a game.

" _That's how he sees things seriously Ieyasu, he takes games more seriously than life. He is trying to rationalise what he is doing_."

" _Will it help him survive? Will playing this 'game' ensure that he lives to keep Tsunayoshi alive and well?"_  I had almost demanded my rain answer, because something in me said that the rain and the sky had to keep each other together. The mist and the cloud keep the sky from being lonely or forgetting his purpose, the Storm and lightning were ever loyal, but the rain seemed to connect everyone together. Without the rain there was no way for the cloud and storm to connect with and understand the mist or thunder.

Ugetsu simply looked on with worry, an expression he had taken to wearing when he couldn't play a piece of music, and since meeting Takeshi.

Then there was Knuckle. With both sides of his ring in the bright-dull-boxer's possession he resided on Tsunayoshi's side indefinitely, and he seemed for the most part, settled. His guardian candidate had a steely look on his face, but he was a brother, it was to be expected. The boy seemed the most understanding, even if that didn't seem possible. He had moments of completely comprehension, his eyes would harden and his stance loosen in that  _deadly_  way of a cobra gearing to strike. This boy would be a problem in the future. My intuition purred, this boy would be the most adapted to being a Vongola Guardian. After all, every time he stepped into the ring he accepted that he may die if his opponent is under-disciplined and he careless.

Then the lightning ceased and the young child fell. Varia's guardian landed on the ground, having jumped up just before the strike, completely unharmed with a almost disappointed look. He was a guardian; he enjoyed the thrill of a fight. This fight though, had given him nothing.

" **He's okay, he's alive!"**  The pure relief in Tsunayoshi's voice sent waves of power crashing off of his body. It was as if his flames were flowing out of him, hitting everyone. It relaxed everyone somewhat, because they became brutally aware of the risks Tsunayoshi would take to protect them; how much he cared for them.

The lightning child seemed to somehow have survived the initial strike, something about his genes and a resistance to lightning from prolonged exposure. I didn't really pay attention to the Sun Arcobaleno, having no faith in him as a tutor or a man. After all he chose the cow child –special characteristics or not- to be a guardian, and that was to me worse than being a Varia member.

I couldn't fault the Varia lightning. He was a trained assassin. His job was to follow his boss' orders with a grim, one-track mind direction; no questions asked no hesitation. He had killed children before, many times- for his boss and others- so this young child untrained and without any kind of awareness of what he was doing would be an easy kill. But Levi wasn't completely bloodthirsty, for the child's sake –and the brats watching on- he would end it quickly. It wasn't in his tastes to watch children suffer when they could be ended swiftly.

It was brutal to watch a grown man kick around a defenceless child, but on the streets of Italy in my youth, before my Vigilante group could protect the innocent, I had seen worse. Mafioso were nothing if thorough and ruthless. Levi was simply another Mafioso, though was more brutal because he was trained to kill instead of conditioned to.

Lambo surprised us all though when he pulled out a large bazooka and aimed it at himself.

" _It's fine. It'll be fine now."_ Lampo has mumbled. The young teen had been completely distraught during much of this battle. He had been wringing the edge of his shirt, and only when Tsunayoshi had spoke up to Lambo had my young lightning been quelled.

It was strange to see the aristocratic teen 'dependant' for lack of a better word on Tsunayoshi, but I suppose that Lambo was dependant on the boss-candidate and often our candidate's emotions rub off on us.

Though I was intrigued, what exactly about pointing a bazooka at yourself made you fine? I wanted to question it, but the projectile launcher was fired and pink smoke enveloped the entire arena.

Finally the smoke cleared. I wasn't the only one surprised by what appeared from within the smoke.

A teen, similar in age to Tsunayoshi and his guardians, he was lazy looking with an air of arrogance and being spoilt. Though, not one person gathered couldn't argue that there was an aura of power surrounding him. Ti was charged, the entire gathered party felt the rush of static in the air as the teen stood and brushed himself off.

Of course, there were accusations of cheating, that Tsunayoshi was playing them for fools. I think it was the rain that said the teen was an intruder, though I know he wasn't. The ten-year bazooka was quite remarkable. So intriguing and so very new to me. I was often amazed by the advances in technology since my reign.

The Cerevello cleared the misunderstanding up, even if the Varia grumbled. They obviously had little faith in their own team member. Though, the principle of the Varia was something along the lines of the strong stay and the weak are killed or used as target practice; a principle of disposability.

" **When I need to, even I can be a man."**  I saw Decimo relax, he may have still considered the fifteen-year-old his brother, but at least this one was a trained one. At least at the same level as each of his other guardians Tsuna was confident to allow the battle to continue. Though his fist did not relax around my ring.

" **Thunder set."** I was intrigued to say the least. The boy placed the fallen horns that I had assumed to be decoration into his flattened black hair and stood erect. As his whispered the words, some kind of dramatic pause I assumed, lightning arced from the sky as if serenaded from the sky to him. As it struck the aura form before exploded outwards and covered everyone in uncomfortable static charge.

There was something dangerously untameable about lightning, to see it control by a teen made my fight and want to back away.

I had actually though, as the child charged, that he might get a hit in on the assassin. Too bad my expectations and hopes usually outdo the actual result.

Levi took the initiative to attack. Umbrellas circled the battling pair and arced with stored electricity. Even before Lambo could touch the man he was struck down hard by lightning. Now, the only thing that kept him alive was his built up tolerance, but as he started tearing up I knew that even a tolerance couldn't stop the sheer power from ripping apart nerve endings and lighting the brain's receptors up. The boy was hurt.

Then blood exploded from his shoulder, he didn't really have time to react when he was lanced through the shoulder, but you could see the panic and pain make itself known in his eyes. They widened and he took shaky breathes.

I almost felt the blood-lust roll off of Tsunayoshi. No one else noticed, but I felt the coolness in my subconscious of the ring touching the blood in his palm. His nails had broken the skin and driven themselves deep enough to wound the young boy. I was awed again by the sheer protective instinct of such a young boy. It wasn't often you saw it so readily shown.

Then there was another explosion. This time not even the storm guardian knew what to expect, he looked on with confusion, obviously knowing- that logically- a ten year older man should appear, but not really believing it.

Though, the man that appeared was a sight to see. He was scarred; there were subtle light lines on his face and bear arms. He had a strength that rattled through the air, as if he were electricity and didn't simply store it. His hair was shaggy and matured, and there was an aloofness melded seamlessly with his arrogance.

He looked around with interest before his eyes landed on his brother.

" **I didn't think I'd get to see you again. All your faces... how nostalgic."**

As if synchronised Tsunayoshi and I were spiked with pure intuition. I felt Tsunayoshi pale and his limbs shake as my own head exploded in colour and pain.

Those words, if nothing else, were nightmare inducing. Something had happened in the future. Tsunayoshi may not realise what the lancing foresight is, but I've had hundreds of years to learn to trust it. Something happened in the future, something that caused this grown man to tear up at the presence of his brother –youth not even a matter in the subject.

Of course, Levi was not a patient man, his umbrellas were circled and aimed precisely. He shocked us all with the display of pure power. The lightning arced and laced and honed in on the flesh body of Tsunayoshi's twenty-year-old lightning. I was not hopeful, aged or not, that amount of lightning was going to do some damage.

I won't say I like Levi, but he is strong. He is loyal to a fault and will do as he is ordered regardless of his own feelings. In fact, he has conditioned himself to make his orders his belief. It was sheer will and was admirable. But it was also a weakness. He had a boss who didn't care for his life. That would end in tragedy one day. The one thing I can say I dislike about Levi is his close-mindedness. He is strong, he has the right to believe that. He had trained and fought for his place on Varia's squad, but he underestimates his opponents, and that too is a dangerous trait to have.

The baritone of the aged voice smoothed over the tension and fear in the arena, he seemed arrogant, and when he proceeded to reverse and ground the electricity surging through him I suppose he had right to be arrogant. It was strange to see the morbidity in his actions. He was strong, stronger than he was showing. Something must have happened between ten years from now and twenty to change the cry-baby cow-child into something hardened and stiff.

Strong or not, I couldn't believe when the man decided to use a move- not two minutes after the firs time- that hasn't worked. I felt Lampo stiffen when he saw the move. The teen would say he didn't care, but he had grown 'attached' to the child who would eventually take over his position. To know that he was going to be defeated form a reckless move was somewhat disappointing.

I would question myself later, when things had calmed down, when I had been assured that Tsunayoshi and his guardians would be Decimo.

But it worked, Thunder Set had been imported and re-evaluated and the man no longer had to charge. The sweeping electricity had downed the Varia guardian in a felling display of control over a substance that shouldn't be controlled. Or it should have.

In the middle of the attack the five minutes elapsed and left a young boy, injured from his own attack, to fend off an irate assassin who has something to prove now.

I have a feeling, had Lambo never been five and had been the twenty-year old that we had been watching, none of my guardians would have even second-guessed Tsunayoshi's ability to become Decimo. Alas, they still don't believe in him.

As the motionless child hit the ground, like a switch, every single guardian gathered was in a fighting stance. The swordsman was half-way to his sword; the bomber already had dynamites and a lit cigarette; the boxer was in stance. They were already a famiglia; the teens displayed what had taken me and my own guardians years, all in the space of maybe six months. It was sobering to see. Every one of my gathered guardians had the same sobering look. What they displayed in their instinctive movement of protection was potential. A sheer, pure, undying potential that could make them great if honed correctly. The problem was finding someone who truly understood that potential.

That someone- as of yet- wasn't the Arcobaleno. **"Wait."**  Now, I'm not unnecessarily violent, but the Arcobaleno, as he stopped his wards from saving their family member, made me want to punch him in the face.

He was their tutor, he was to mould them and make sure they didn't die too prematurely. But he was also supposed to protect and guide them. He was about to let a child die so that they could at least fight the next battle. I've not felt such fury burn me as when the man tried to tell the teens not to enter the ring. They were a family, not a famiglia. Vongola was a family, not a mafia famiglia!

" **I...I have to protect Lambo."**  To everyone else, his own tutor and father, it was unsure and uneasy. More words than actual resolve. But I felt it. I felt the shattering resolve within the words. Had Decimo understood how- had someone given the time to teach him- he would have ignited his own Dying Will flame. But again he was born to the wrong generation, no one since my own cousin's rein understood how to light your own flame. Not even Nono, as resolved as he was, knew how to truly slip into HDW mode without a medium. Decimo was the closest I had ever seen.

Then things moved quickly, there was a gunshot and a huge crashing as one of the lightning rods was downed in front of Levi. The boy looked up into the eyes of the gathered, resolve and drive burning his irises amber. I've been told that I am a rare, beautiful case, only those utterly resolved will have their physiology changed to accommodate the unyielding resolve of the flames. Eye change is the one proof someone can have that their resolve is unrelenting.

" **If I have to watch my precious comrades die with my own eyes...I wouldn't be able to atone for it. No matter how many times I die."**

I watched the gathered shiver as Tsunayoshi's words registered with everyone. Now they couldn't deny it. This boy was my heir. I knew then, no matter my argument that I was going to see this through to the end. Should Xanxus become heir and Tsunayoshi die then Vongola would never be saved. This boy was the only one to take  _my_  place. But he wasn't ready yet. It wasn't his time and he would die.

" **The Vongola rings... the position of boss. I cannot battle for such things."**  He was so resolute, yet these words caused unease to ripple in my guardians, and even in me. Why would he say such things? He made it seem like he was battling for battle's sake. It seemed there was more to his words. But as of yet I couldn't understand them.  **"I don't want my friends to be hurt."**

Again my emotions were rollercostered up and dropped. Those words were the same words that I had petitioned to my guardians when the idea of Vongola being formed had entered my mind. I hadn't wanted the innocent, my guardians or anyone to be hurt. To hear those words again in a voice filled with resolve and the deep baritone of HDW wracked me for a reaction. And I didn't know how to react.

" _The brat isn't suited for this world."_  G's words weren't biting this time. They were genuinely caring. His have had softened a she gazed at Tsunayoshi, obviously cast back to the time I had confronted him about Vongola's establishment.

The next thing I was aware of, still entranced by the burning amber of flames and eyes, Tsunayoshi being thrown across the roof with force enough to shatter the remnants of HDW mode form his eyes. Though that didn't stop him from glaring defiantly at the man who had caused all the problems in his life. I've never felt prouder.

" **Are you seriously thinking that you can defeat me and become successor?"**  Xanxus words were trying, he was aware of the purity of the sky flame Tsunayoshi possessed. It scared him- somewhere in his core- but he was also arrogant and assured. He could kill the brat if he wanted to.

Then a shit eating grin spread on his lips. I felt through my ring his entire body jumping at the prospect of his fight with Tsunayoshi. His words of excitement only proved to send Tsunayoshi reeling. The man was excited about fighting. The man was looking for blood.

But he laughed and giggled like an excited child when words of accusation were thrown at him. He didn't react when the CEDEF leader threatened him, and only felt it necessary to laugh harder when the Arcobaleno had to calm the fool.

Alaude would be ashamed and furious about where the CEDEF had gone without his guidance. I hope I'm not the one to break the news to him. CEFED may not have been what he started, but it is a branch of his original organisation.

Xanxus continued to threaten Tsunayoshi, but didn't really listen, I was far too aware of the fact that I had lost the warmth that came with being in Tsunayoshi's possession. I didn't ever imagine that Xanxus would have me whole. To know my ring was in his possession, that his threat of eliminating Tsunayoshi wasn't an empty one made me nervous.

It was fair to say that I did not truly know how to react to this child's actions. All I could say was that I felt a deep knot form in my stomach as I was handed over to Xanxus with only a light flicker in Tsunayoshi's eyes. For some reason it truly hurt to think that Tsunayoshi thought the ring so invaluable as to pass me off in an instant.

But, I also knew that Tsunayoshi wasn't thinking of the ring. In that instant that the cow-child was in danger, that his elder passed back into his own time, I felt the sheer panic and protective instincts overwhelm young Tsuna and I knew in an instant that he was no longer concerned about anything but his 'brother' and saving him.

It made me, honestly, proud. I've never felt such raw, unbridled pride in a descendent, and G would chastise me for years after the entire conflict was over telling me that I was not suppose to get attached. But I did, I found it so easy to get attached; so easy to fall for Tsunayoshi and his sheer charisma. Even if the boy himself didn't know that he had it.

Of course, this didn't change my mind at all about the boy. He was not Mafia. He was too kind, too compassionate, and was nowhere near fanatical enough about the position of Decimo to get it.

Being a Don isn't just a job, it is a lifestyle. I couldn't help but admit, as I watched Tsunayoshi's retreating form- as I was forced to wait with Xanxus and the whole sky ring- as Tsunayoshi held his young lightning, that the dear brunet was not suited for this life.

He shouldn't, and couldn't be a mafia don.

Even if, dare I admit it to my crushing heart, he is exactly what I was when I  _started_  Vongola.


	9. Storming resolve.

This boy was my worst fear. Not one of the other guardians –who I had seen- at this point worried me and caused me more grief than the Storm guardian that followed Decimo. For one, he was nothing like my own Strom, he was like G, yes, but not like my  _storm_  and it worried me because their dissimilarities were of the worst kind.

The boy was suicidal for one, and it would kill Decimo to see it.

" _This isn't going to turn out well, Giotto."_ G had mumbled right before the fight began, he wasn't smoking for once, his fisted hands crossed over his chest in a pose of anxiety.

For once I agreed with my temperamental guardian, this battle would not turn out well, one way, or another. I had the utmost faith in Tsunayoshi, the last battle had opened my eyes to 'belief' I still didn't think him suited to Vongola, but at least I saw him as a suitable leader. I simply prayed at this point, as I watched Tsunayoshi prepare his Strom, that that belief wasn't misplaced.

Gokudera Hayato's storm had raged off course and was now so very, pitifully lost.

Of course, I could only watch from Xanxus' side, and I had learnt many new things since the night before, being able to delve deeper into Xanxus' mind and his intentions. It was only a night, but I learnt many things.

Xanxus was not an openly caring individual, he threw glasses and abused his guardians, but he was string and he was fair. If his guardians did as they were told, followed him and fought for his ideal he was willing to do anything he could to ensure they won and that they were rewarded.

There had to be something about him that ignited the loyalty of his subordinates, something other than fear or strength, because I know that the Varia were not the kind of people who would stick around if their boss showed weakness. They were all capable of leaving to find better meat to sink their fangs into.

So what made Xanxus worth the wait while he was cooled on ice for year upon year?

It could be his strength, he was powerful and could kill anyone he so wished. But the Varia guardians were strong, and far too stubborn to be held by something as weak as fear. So perhaps, I wondered, if it were his mind.

He had a steel-trap mind, I could see it in his eyes, the feral, instinctual actions hid the true genius and cunning the man had cultivated. I was honestly amazed and terrified; it was the kind of intelligence that knew neither bounds nor limits. If Xanxus had to massacre to get what he needed he would.

That didn't mean that he didn't have his virtues. He was charismatic- in his own twisted way- and he had lines he didn't cross. He for one didn't go out of his way to defend children, but he would avoid them if he could. He wasn't heartless nor without emotion, he had just learnt to cast them into a seamless box for his own protection, and for those under his rule. Emotions in the world of blood and bullets were quickly smite or hidden. Xanxus knew this well.

But he was wounded. I could feel it and see it when he and I were left in his throne room alone in the evenings. Something had hurt him so much; he still bled from the open wound of betrayal and confusion. The Cradle affair weighed on him and hurt him more than anyone wanted to let him admit- more than he was prepared to admit.

The confusion from the days before his Coup d'état had many years to fester and writhe while he was held inanimate in my ice. It had seared him and had wounded him. The scars he bore were simply reminders, never able to escape from the fury and hurt he had to think on every, single day that he was held captive, awake and asleep all at the same time.

I've never disliked Timoteo, but I did grow to resent his decisions, his fall and his predicament now- his own son killing off his 'brothers' and trying to overthrow the Vongola- was of Timoteo's own reckoning. I felt no pity for the fool who let his own regret and fear overwhelm him. Timoteo was the creator of Xanxus' true wrath. I had no pity for the man. I simply wept for Xanxus, for he now had no way out.

I had my suspicions about Xanxus' blood even before the cradle affair, the way my ring sat on his large finger, how it heated and sparked. Something was very wrong with the feeling of being in his possession, and not because of my growing bias towards Decimo.

But I didn't hate Xanxus, his blood, his mind, I disked and pitied him, but I didn't hate him. He was lost; his mind was still trying to catch up while his body continued to motor on. He was scared; he was trying to get himself somewhere he understood. He was trying to get the dream that had always been so attainable, his one dream that was snatched away from him because of an old man's sentiment.

That didn't mean that I thought he was right, or that he was my choice for Decimo. All I meant was that I hoped he could be saved.

I hoped Tsunayoshi was strong enough to realise, forgive, and heal the scarred man who didn't know how to ask for help and not feel weak.

* * *

I missed my time with Tsunayoshi, being away from him made me burn for different reasons. I missed the innocent love of the family that he held, and the reminder of my own time as Vigilante boss. Xanxus was not kind and his aura as it searched for solace weighed on me. I honestly missed Tsunayoshi and I shouldn't have.

My intuition had burned me for a while and so I decided to use my ability to travel through other rings. As the sky I can check up on opposing candidates briefly by using my guardians' rings as medium. It was taxing, and I had never evoked it before, but I knew that with my intuition burning as it was, it was time to evoke the ability and check up on Tsunayoshi. So I was both surprised and amazed when I appeared before Decimo to find him completing training I remember from my own time as Don.

He looked pathetic as he trained, but I had never heard such a resolute confirmation from him. He was truly ready to get stronger, finally willing to take on his role. The beating his youngest guardian had taken had finally,  _finally_  ignited that protective instinct every leader needs to be strong.

" **Can I defeat Xanxus too...?"**  it was the first time I had heard him actually state his desire. To defeat Xanxus? Never had he taken these fights seriously, and though I was only there in spirit I felt excitement pool in my stomach, the exhaustion of this disconnection with my ring suddenly didn't feel so painful.

I could not stay with him throughout the entirety of his training, it was too taxing being away from Xanxus, but at least I could see him trying, his struggle and his resolve. It was simply confirmation that what I had seen the night before was not a fluke but was the ignition of the resilient spark.

Though he still cowered and ran from the training, his heart was elsewhere. He was really thankful for the training. For my training, though he didn't really know of me then. He knew my name. And that for me was enough.

"Dame-Tsuna. If you don't pick up the pace your guardian's are going to be killed." Reborn had chided his student.

"I know reborn. You don't have to remind me."

Watching my descendant's struggle made me ache. I wanted to help him. He was using my method after all. I watched as they repeated my exact steps to power up. I watched as Decimo's sweat and blood mixed on the gloves so nostalgic to me. It was then that they started training for my zero-point breakthrough. I doubted they would make it. I watched as he finally understood the basics. It was far from perfect.

When Decimo arrived at his house that night his tutor disappeared for the final preparations. Reborn knew something would happen during the final battle. He knew Decimo would go through a great grief, a great change. He still had a day of training.

I couldn't appear, as I usually did in the evening. Decimo was sleeping. His brunette hair plastered flat with blood and dirt and sweat. His face streaked with tears of worry. He'd seen his guardians be shot down one after the other. He'd almost lost many of them. Somehow, even though my entire soul was with Xanxus, I couldn't help but want to stay and watch my descendent. My guardians did me the favor of watching over him in my stead.

As I watched Decimo -through the eyes of my guardian's - he would toss and turn with the nightmare of his training I felt a tug in my heart I couldn't really describe. I wished I could be there. That I couldn't ruffle that soft looking, brunette hair, that I couldn't comfort his contorted face. It was all achingly painful.

" _I promise to help you… somehow."_

* * *

Before I knew it was already time for the battle. Xanxus mobilised his guardians and they gathered at the school, waiting for the Tsunayoshi's storm to arrive. Though he only made it in the last second.

Though I couldn't see Decimo, I was close enough to feel his pure relief when his storm appeared in a cloud of smoke. I could feel his emotions and it wasn't surprising. Over my time in his possession I grew attached and through that a link from our blood allowed me to know what he was feeling. Though only when we were in close proximity.

I settled myself outside of the school, in a place where I could watch the entirety of the battle while on neither candidate's side. I didn't feel I was up to choosing sides when my stomach flipped and clenched painfully.

" _That child has lost his way, may God protect him."_ Knuckle appeared at my side to watch over the battle, I hadn't seen him since his own ring battle and I knew that he was trying to find a medium in his soul. He was one who despised these battles the most.

" _I don't know if even that will save him at this point."_ Lampo actually appeared at that point, standing next to Knuckle as we watched the Cerevello confront the two candidates.

" _I suppose we can only hope that young Tsunayoshi has been able to quell that storm and show it his importance in the sky."_

My guardians went silent as we watched and waited on the battle's outcome. All of us were a little uneasy about the battle ground all aware that it was a little overdone. While the battles did not guarantee a participants safety I'm sure that it should not guarantee their death either. To place turbines and bombs throughout the battle field... weren't the Cerevello taking it all too far.

" _It's no longer our place to say, Giotto. Those boys have to decide the worth of their lives and those rings."_

" _Ah, I know G. That doesn't mean that it makes me hurt any less."_

A chair materialised behind me as I took a seat and rubbed my eyes tiredly. I am so tired of these battles, and so tired of all the blood in my name. But tradition is tradition and the dead can no longer teach the living. Our time is done after all. I'd be blissfully unaware if it weren't for Vongola's sin; and part of me wonders if it is worth it? Worth eternal life to watching my family fall.

As my guardians G, Lampo, Ugetsu and Knuckle gathered at my side, their eyes saddened but lost, a new face joined Decimo's side, but I was aghast to see exactly how he introduced himself. Such improper mannerisms.

Of course I knew who Trident Shamal was, I could not be a part of the mafia without knowing of his medical prowess, and despite his reluctance to treat males, if the time came and you had earned his respect he would treat you without question. If Shamal used his classic line of 'I don't treat males' whatever ailment you had was obviously not that bad. He would be a far better person if he wasn't so vulgar though.

" _What a vulgar man, God have mercy..."_

A murmur ran through Xanxus' side of the arena, I could feel his unease and confusion though the ring and I know that Lampo felt it too. The teen beside me, sitting so he was leaning against my thrown, was turning greener by the minute. All the Varia was uneasy and wary of the growing crowd on Decimo's side; the Varia may be powerful, but even they can't fight against numbers, especially not numbers of powerful people.

" **Why are such skilled people gathered over there...what the hell is going on?"**

I wanted to smirk, and perhaps I let myself grin at the unease in the Varia troupe, because they would never understand why Decimo was gathering the powerful. I wished they would, somewhere in my heart, but at the same time I knew they would never  _truly_  understand. It wasn't that Arcobaleno; it wasn't the Strom guardian- student of Shamal- it was all on Decimo. All of it on child's natural ability to be a sky.

Speaking of ability;

" **Don't say that... can we do it, Gokudera-kun."**

Now, I don't really understand the encouragement circle Decimo and his guardians did, but it seemed to ease them somehow, and with G chuckling quietly beside me I guess that even Decimo's storm was relaxed, the poor mafia child just didn't understand compassion; he didn't understand that he was precious.

" **How do I put this...? This battle involves all of us..."**

" **I don't want to lose anyone."** For a single moment I saw the tell-tale sparks of HDW die Decimo's eyes, but only an instant. It was enough for me, and I feel that Ugetsu felt it too.

Gokudera smiled softly as he walked over to the center of the arena, waiting to fight out Varia's storm for the rings. He was approached by the Varia storm, one I knew was not soft and gentle, who didn't care about his opponent and would sooner cut off an arm than be supportive.

So you can imagine that I was immediately put on edge and disappointed when Belphegor patted Gokudera's shoulder and the silver-haired teen didn't react to it.

He was not my G.

Furious movement started the battle as Gokudera fought to put enough distance between himself and Belphegor to observe. That at least, even I could agree would be advantageous. His dynamite would damage himself if he wasn't careful; if he understood his Boss' words he would ensure not to be caught up in their ripple.

" **They've said it well: they're Varia quality."**

Again, I was surprised by the sheer violence Decimo's  _supporters_  were causing in me. Trident Shamal was brilliant, he was intelligent and had taught Gokudera relatively well. But the man needed to figure out when to keep his mouth shut. Decimo didn't need to hear his guardian criticized.

" **As the guardian of storm, of course I'm sensitive to wind."**

But I could not fight my mind, the Varia were, for lack of any other term, Varia Quality. They were sheer brilliance. Belphegor even more so.

The boy was a genius, he could feel and dive and work his surroundings. The way he moved, analysed and thought was stunning. Through G and through Xanxus I could feel the sheer assurance they had in Belphegor's mental capacity and ability.

It wasn't even the fact that he could use the winds to his favour, that he could feel them, use them and make it seem effortless. It was the fact that he had the capacity to make the illusion that he was a genius so strong that people misjudged just how  _intelligent_  he was. Belphegor used the winds to move his knives, sweeping and weaving them through the currents to their target; but he did so much more than that.

He had everyone trapped. Everyone sure

The boy was a tidal wave of knowledge, adaptation and lacked the physical limits of pain and blood-shyness.

But he was equally a danger because of that.

" _You cannot call that child anything but pure genius."_  Ugetsu divulged with a tired sigh.

" _Ah, but can you call him strong?"_

" _No."_ G elaborated.  _"He is not truly 'strong'."_

Gokudera continued weaving and dodging, learning, observing. Getting injured. But he kept himself straight; there was no pure panic in his movements. There was surprise, of course there was, but he was letting his mind tick over. He too, was no fool.

" **Do you know the duty of a storm?"**

Gokudera was surprised when the self-appointed prince began talking during their match, his voice high and pitched oddly, but otherwise even and emotionless.

" **Continuously at the heart of the attack, the** _ **storm**_ **or raging waves that never ends."** Belphegor lectured Gokudera. His grin widening as he assured the younger teen he was fighting, that while he himself could be that storm, Gokudera could not be.

" **Stop standing around like an idiot, Hayato."**  Shamal knew it, as well as I did, that Hayato was no fool.

We watched on as Gokudera dove into a classroom, somewhere to hide and get a plan in order. It would have been a good move in any other situation. But he was already disadvantaged by his ignorance. He was obviously still in the stage of childhood where you believe a bad-guy won't really try to kill you.

Knives came careening around the corner, slicing through the wicks of the dynamite and sending Gokudera into an erratic display of unease and confusion. He started mumbling to himself, looking around to any sign of Belphegor in the room. But as he already knew, the Prince-Ripper was nowhere near him.

" **Is that all you can do a guardian of storm? Your boss can see it too."**

I saw the spark of fury and grief in Gokudera's eyes as the words from his opponent sunk in. He knew, right there and then, that he was being a dissatisfaction, he was being overpowered and destroyed by his opponent and had not really even put up a fight.

He was such a-

" _Disappointment."_  I wanted to correct G, but I found that I couldn't.

" _Hey, Ieyasu, look at Tsunayoshi."_

Turning to my descendent I watched as his fist clenched and his eyes closed. His form was stiff- if only a little- and it was obvious that he was fighting an inner turmoil much like he had during his lightning's battle. But when he opened his eyes, I saw it again; I saw the tell-tale signs of strength and HDW. I saw purity, faith, and resolve.

Alas, I was the only one to see it and realise what it was.

To have such faith in his guardian, it warmed me. I never imagined that Tsunayoshi would have faith in his guardians, not when he was so scared and unsure of them. But again, he had no faith in himself; he had been trampled on and abused, neglected and underestimated all his life. Why would he think that now he could rely on someone?

It was sad to think that my descendent was so scarred, especially in a life where he was suppose to live freely and protected.

But there was faith in Tsunayoshi's eyes, faith and disgust. He was one who was forever underestimated and though he didn't show it I  _know_  through experience of his pure emotions that he looked up to Gokudera as a strong young man. To know someone was underestimating someone he felt was one of the strongest, well, I can understand why he had such faith and disgust.

I could only hope it wasn't blind.

I closed my eyes when Belphegor moved in for his final assault, because I was sure I would just be witness to yet another death in my name. I knew every name of every man woman and child slaughtered for these battles. Everything was because of me and my inability to remain strong enough as a boss. It looked, to me, like I was adding yet another child's name to the list.

Then G began chuckling, scoffing even. I whipped around to him, disgusted that he would laugh at a child's death. The mafia had changed us, our stint in this purgatory prison had changed us, but we were not so changed as to laugh at the death of a child.

" _It looks like, Giotto, that the child is not so useless as we thought."_

My blue eyes swerved over to the body of young Gokudera and I was sure I would see the blood of his corpse, but to my relief, to my soul-soothing relief Gokudera stood over the model of a corpse holding in his gentle, callous hands the strings that made up Belphegor's brilliant, deadly technique.

Maybe Tsunayoshi's faith was no so blind after all.

* * *

But genius or not, adaptation or not, things continued to see-saw and rollercoaster.

" **I really am a looser."**  The boy seemed to sober for a moment, resolve coursing through his being as he spoke.  **"But one thing I'll never allow is shame to Juudaime."**

For one moment I thought that Gokudera had the upper hand, a new bomb and the knowledge of the heart of Belphegor's technique meant that the smoking bomb technician had the advantage. A pure resolve and the drive to be better, do better, and win meant that he would thrive and adapt and may one up a genius.

Then Belphegor actually got hit.

" **It's flowing out, the blood of the Royal clan."**

Even I shivered as the deranged, drunken voice of a heavily injured Belphegor filtered across my ears. Unease rippled through the Varia, but at the same time they seemed ever more assured of their guardian as he stood and swayed on his feet. As if drunk on the pain of his own injuries.

" **Prince the Ripper's true skills."**  That's what the Varia called them, and immediately I was on edge and noticed G become rather green in the face.

" _G...?"_

My storm guardian turned to me the, his face pale and his fists clenched. He knew something I did not, and it was rare for knowledge to affect G so substantially. G was, after all my right hand.

" _You probably don't want to know about that child's past, boss."_  He began, his eyes glazed over and he ground his teeth.  _"He's the kind of monster that the mafia thrives off of."_

I was unsure of what to think as G told me all about what he had learnt about Belphegor. The bloodied history sent my stomach churning and the reasons behind the boy's drunken state at the sight of his own blood gave me chills.

" _The child joined the Varia because he was thrilled by killing?"_  Knuckle looked particularly pail; he clasped his hands and muttered prayers under his breath. He understood killing for protection, but for fun and enjoyment, well not even I understood that.

" **Somehow that person... seems really dangerous."**  Yet another time that I wanted to hit Tsunayoshi, but I couldn't help the spike of pride, maybe he was finally starting to listen to the explosion of pain and colour in his skull; his intuition.

Of course, the battle continued regardless of realisation, fear, or faith. Belphegor fell into a kind of careless, whipping style that cared not for his condition but simply the thrill of killing. Gokudera then was left to try and survive. The fight led them both to be bloodied, tried, and trapped within the library with the bombs ticking away and explosions threatening to begin.

Finally ending this battle.

I realised during that fight something very important. I realised how stupid I was in my life, how few times I appreciated our lives and the battles we fought.

It was painfully difficult for me to watch children who bore my guardians' faces battle for their lives in a competition none of them really understood. It was hard to disconnect myself from them, to try and see  _them_  and not my guardians.

Lampo wouldn't have ended up in the hospital had he been battling.

G would have seen the stupid tricks of string and would not have fallen into the goading.

It was so tiring and difficult to watch my guardians fight... when they weren't really my guardians.

I couldn't take it anymore, didn't want to watch. I leant over and hid my eyes, resting my forehead on my fist as I clenched my eyes and tried to stop the tears.

I had had enough.

But I wasn't allowed to sleep yet.

I listened as bombs and cackles lit the air. And finally, silence. There were gasped worries and incredulous scoffs. But there was silence. I gathered that Gokudera had finally defeated Belphegor; I felt Tsunayoshi's terror and relief permeate the distance between us. I may not be with him in the ring, but my time with him and my bias was enough to let me feel it.

The resolve of a true sky.

Xanxus didn't feel too worried though, and that worried me more than anything.

" **Seems I was able to be a little useful."**

I opened my eyes just in time to see Gokudera grab the storm ring and begin to ease it off of Belphegor's neck, and also just in time to watch the zombie Prince flip Gokudera over and proceed to strangle the life out of him.

At that point, with the bombs going off, Gokudera struggling, and Belphegor fighting on some sort of disgusting instinct I moved to leave. We do not need to watch these battles, it isn't our duty. I've had enough. This battle is too close to me to watch any longer.

"You have to stay and watch." G's hand descended onto my shoulder, pushing me back into my seat.

"I don't want to watch anymore, G. I've had enough."

"I know, Giotto. But you have a duty, ta' Tsunayoshi if no one else, ta' watch 'til the end."

I could not fault my storm even as his hand tightened comfortably. So I cast my eyes down to my descendent as he watched on, behind some barrier he could not cross. His fist was clenched and I saw the sadness in the action. Usually my ring was in that hand, my warmth close enough for his intuition to feel. But not any longer.

Not until he takes his place as Decimo.

" **Give your ring to your opponent. To die for such a useless thing is ridiculous."**

Shamal's words hit me as he called out to his student. I was for a moment humbled by the care in the words. This man, for all his vulgar flirtation, all his murmurings of torment and teasing, he truly cared for Gokudera, I realise that maybe he was the reason the boy was a little more stable than most boys would be in his situation. Maybe this was why Gokudera could be loyal to someone.

But I also knew that his words were careless. He had not thought about the position it put his student in.

" **How can I let myself loose?! A 1-3 loss would be devastating!"**

He was right, but there was more to what he was saying.

" **How can I come back empty-handed?!"**

He was wrong, he didn't see it, didn't understand  _why_  Shamal would say what he had. He couldn't see Tsunayoshi's fear of losing him. He couldn't feel the terror in  _Tsunayoshi's_  mind when he saw his  _friend_ being killed before his eyes.

" **Someone who returns like that isn't worthy of being Juudaime's right-hand man!"**

The sheer desperation and grief on Gokudera's face made my eyes burn and made my heart clench. To think, a child, not even sixteen years old yet didn't know the worth of their own life. It hurt so much to see. He was on the verge of tears, completely certain, one hundred percent convinced that he was worthless as himself. He was stuck in the deadening idea that he had to win, had to have some kind of material worth. It made me hurt so deeply to think that someone, a child, a person surrounded by people who loved him didn't  _understand_  that he was worthy of their attention.

I realised only when my guardians placed their strong, comforting hands on me that I had let my tears escape.

Gokudera Hayato was not like my G; he was far worse off.

Trident Shamal tried. He really did. I could see even the man was desperate to save the boy he raised- even if only briefly. He brought up the training, the very point where both G and I decided to give him another chance.

But neither G, nor I realised until this point just how boxed into the world of worthlessness and pain Gokudera Hayato was.

" **Have you even stopped to think about what you're fighting for?!"**

Tsunayoshi's voice cut through the arena, silencing even the murmuring Varia. His breathes were panted and rough. Emotion ran in the air and I felt it permeate every desperate, thoughtful word.

" **It's so we can have snowball fights together again! Watch fireworks** _ **together**_ **again!"**

" **That's why we're** _ **fighting**_ **! That's** _ **why**_ **we became strong!"**

" **So that everyone can laugh** **together again** **!"**

" **If you die then all that no longer has any meaning, does it!?"**

I felt the sheer desperation in Tsunayoshi's voice. Because this boy, the brunet who was thrust into the Mafia, told to bow down and accept, was charging through along his own path. He had found something precious that he had never had. Like the true boss he could become; like the sky he was naturally; like the friend he always had the capability of being, he was going to protect the thing he had found.

He would call himself selfish.

I call him the selfless sky.

For I know, as well as he does, that for all his complaining he would sooner kill himself then let a friend die if their lives were completely guaranteed at the cost of his own.

Maybe that was a little hypocritical.

But I was so very proud of him.

" **No... It's not true... how could this happen?"** Tsunayoshi's knees gave out as he watched the top floor of his school explode in an aggressive display of lights and pressure waves.  **"Gokudera-kun... no... Please no."**

" _That stupid brat. That inconsiderate, stupid brat."_

" _May God look after that boy."_

" _He was too young to have made that decision."_

I could hear it in all my guardian's voices. They may complain that Tsunayoshi and his friends were too young and inexperienced to be fighting for a mafia place hold I knew they cared for the boys. They could see themselves in their representatives. They felt their own demise when watching Tsunayoshi lose his friend. I felt it too, and it burnt more than Tsunayoshi's devastating expression could explain.

Then the unimaginable happened, through the smoke and haze of destruction and gunpowder a figure emerged, bloodied, beaten, on the verge of collapse. He had his head bowed as he appeared before Tsunayoshi, but you could not deny that Gokudera Hayato had cheated death and realised- maybe only for a second- that he was worth the effort to stay alive.

" **I wanted to watch the fireworks again... so I came back."**

" _Thank god... that stupid brat, I hope he realises how lucky he is."_  I felt more than heard the sheer relief in G's body ad he drifted to the 'floor' and released a painfully pent up breathe.

" _He's lucky to have such a wonderful friend."_

G didn't look at me, but I knew he was nodding along in agreement. Gokudera Hayato would have died in this battle had he not had a friend like Tsunayoshi.

Some people are scarred and wounded by their upbringing, but they can be saved, all it takes is a careful, dedicated hand to show them that the person they are is precious and irreplaceable.

" **I'm glad, thank goodness Gokudera."**

Belphegor appeared in the haze, bloodied, laughing and completely lost. He was a storm, but the most dangerous of storms. In his grip was the Strom ring, and I watched with painful gaze as G shook his head and walked towards the grinning combatant.

" _I guess I'll be seeing more of you from now on, boss."_

Despite the sadness in G's voice, the disappointment he felt at being handed over to the disturbing teen-Prince, I heard the pride. His descendent- the one he had unconsciously chosen- was learning. He was finally growing up.

I nodded solemnly as I clapped my passing guardian on the shoulder. Yet another joining my side, how many more would follow? How sorely would Decimo lose?

" **It's all up to you, Sword-freak."**

I decided at that point, that I didn't need to know the rest. I needed sleep. The next fight may well be the most difficult to watch, because Yamamoto Takeshi and Ugetsu were most similar in their situation, and Yamamoto has yet proven to me to be the mature guardian that the Arcobaleno boasted about.

It would be hard to watch the slow realisation that this _was_ **not** _a_ _ **game.**_

" **Tomorrow night's battle will be the battle of the rain guardians."**


	10. Hitman Rain

We knew who Squalo was, of course we did. He was strong, intelligent, and above all else loyal to the core. He often got pushed aside as brash and loud, but when the need arose he was level-headed and one of the best allies someone could have. I was proud to say that he was a part of Vongola, even if I didn't like the Vongola itself.

As the next leader of the Varia, it was only expected that he was strong and intelligent, after all.

Squalo was a rising swordsman, swift and brutal; he wasted no time on his enemies. But he had a score to settle, and that tainted his blade and his craft.

" _I wish he had found the sword by some other means, Giotto."_  Ugetsu would always sigh to me, even if I'd heard it many times over the years. _"The sword is mighty, and an honourable craft. I never regret leaving my flute for it. It's a great skill. But Squalo-san is using it for the wrong reasons. His blade, already, is blackened."_  Ugetsu was solemn but cool.

Even to this day I find it amazing how skilled Squalo was and how lucky the Vongola were to get him to their side. It was fate, I believe, that had Tyr as the Varia leader; Squalo joined simply because he had the chance to defeat the sword emperor; and so he did, after a grueling two day match.

As I was taken away from the storm battle, stuck in Xanxus' ring, I heard the Cavallone boss stick the young Decimo swordsman with a stare that left even me a little shaken.

" **If you only rely on one style you will be defeated."**  For the first time in a long while I remembered that Dino Cavallone was not a fool **, "It is only possible to defeat him by transcending style completely."**

I did not look forward to the rain battle, the boy and the man were going to battle spectacularly, and I knew it would be a difficult fight for both of them. But it would be difficult to watch. It may not seem like it all the time, but it wasn't Smoking Bomb or even Lambo who mirrored my guardians the most, it was Takeshi, the boy rain who portrayed his guardian counterpart the most. He was the rain, he was the determination, he was the one who made my chest clench with an old memory of betrayal.

I had betrayed Ugetsu in the end, my determination to stay out of the mafia and get Ugetsu back to his flute was never fulfilled. We retired with too much blood on our hands and too many regrets mingling with our souls. Ugetsu, even in death, found it difficult to pick up his flute. And for that I am eternally sorry. I wish, with all my soul that Tsunayoshi's friend will not lose his heart of a child, and that he can pick up his sport forever, not just after the mafia is done; because it is never done.

* * *

The day of the rain battle, characteristically, was calm. I spent much time around the brash rain, taking in his unique take on the rain guardianship. It was somewhat lonely, because most of my other guardians stayed away, thinking of their own strife and the feelings that still churned uncomfortably.

Ugetsu came to me many times during the day, telling me about the Decimo's struggle. I for once, was ever so glad that the Rain and Sky in the Varia were the foundations, because I wanted to keep an eye of Decimo's rain more so than any other of his guardians, except maybe the sun, whose battle was already over and done.

Dino was both, as usual, right and wrong in his assessment of winning. To beat such a versed and well skilled man such as Squalo, Takeshi would have to transcend everything he knew. His style would have to be flawless and loose. Something that, so far, he was light-years away from achieving.

Once again, Decimo's candidate was still an athlete. I had yet to see the makings of the Hitman that the Arcobaleno always mumbled about.

" _His father is a strong, intelligent man."_ Ugetsu mused, _"Already he can read his son and the sword well. He is quite the character, this Tsuyoshi-san."_

" **The Shigure souen style is flawless, ultimate, and invincible! It cannot be beaten!"**

Ugetsu actually laughed as he told me about the confrontation between Decimo's candidate and his father, to hear about such fatherly support and affection was wonderful, and painful.

" _How did Decimo react, Ugetsu?"_  I asked with a solemn air, because I almost knew how he would react, I could feel it, and believed myself better at reading Decimo than his own tutor.

I regretted my question almost immediately.

At this point in time, even if I was certain of Decimo's success and his rise to Vongola's throne, I was not yet sure about my guardians. I knew that a few, Lampo and Knuckles at least preferred Tsunayoshi. They were drawn to the burnet in the same way their candidates were, but were not yet certain if he was right for Decimo; either because of his age, or for the same reasons they were drawn to him. A few, like G and Daemon did not approve at all. As for Ugetsu, I didn't know.

My rain took on a hue of unease and distaste. His eyes narrowed and his usually open and warm eyes grew dark. He frowned, and with the frown came a deep sadness and a kind of understanding that at the time I didn't understand.

" _He is worrisome, Giotto."_ Ugetsu hummed. _"He is not suited for this; he will be drowned by the mafia."_

I knew I gaped at my friend, ashamed and scared. Tsunayoshi was a kind soul; clumsy and a self-destructive beast. He would be his own death and the stress of his friends' involvement would end him before any bullet- I knew this. But hearing it form the one guardian I knew would see it if it were true hurt anyway.

" _But,"_ Ugetsu continued, with a sad smile, _"I am so very glad that he saved my boy and continues to give him a reason to live."_

" _Ugetsu?"_

My rain turned to me, a shimmer in his eyes of a breathtaking familiarity. The sheen was the same as the day he told me he had put his flute away. It was determined, grateful, sad, and gloriously happy all at one. Painful and crushing, but made me fill with prude.

" _Takeshi was on his way to his end, Giotto. I could feel it as soon as my ring was given to him."_  Ugetsu sighed, looking off into space as if remembering watching the Decimo rain.  _"You can only go so far without true purpose. He was going to kill himself over a sport, Giotto, not even for my flute would I have taken my life."_

Of course I knew of the rain's suicidal tendencies, but I never imagined Ugetsu would be so opinionated about it.

" _Tsunayoshi saved him in so many ways, and I think, even if he is a part of the mafia- even with blood and hate tainting the rain- Tsunayoshi will bleach it with his sky. He's given Takeshi a worthwhile purpose, and if Tsunayoshi brings back_ our _family how can I be upset and hate the boy? He is you, Giotto, many years younger, and unfortunately cleaner."_

For a moment I am silent, floating on in the rafters of Varia's throne room just taking in my guardian's presence and warm aura. Even in death and centuries behind us, Ugetsu still embodies the soothing, cleansing rain. He rids me of all negative and useless thoughts, and I'm stuck again by his kindness.

" _But, at the same time you can, can't you, Ugetsu? You can still hate Tsunayoshi."_

I wouldn't know it for a while, but when Ugetsu's eyes softened in that way that told you he laughed and smiled often- as I had assumed was the case- it was because when I let the name of my newest descendent flow off of my tongue it was filled with a kind of compassion and softness, like when I spoke my own son's name.

" _Hai, I can still hate the boy."_ He admitted with a tinge of guilt _, "but not in the same way that Daemon hates. I just know that he is too compassionate."_

I wanted to protest, to say that it wasn't a bad thing to be too compassionate, but part of me knew it was.

" _He is too concerned with his friends' safety, and one day he will die for the sake of them; even for that pair who care little for his wellbeing right now."_ Ugetsu sighed, and his fists clenched in anger and pain _, "When he does, I know that my boy will lose all sense of life and preservation. He is riding on Tsunayoshi's life right now. Willing to give up anything and do anything for your boy. To lose him...I fear he will lose himself."_

" _Takeshi is not so weak, Ugetsu,"_  I comforted, clamping my hand on my dear friend's shoulder.  _"he will not fall because my child does."_

" _No,"_ Ugetsu admits, looking at me with a kind of knowing _, "I suppose he won't. But I also know that he will most likely die before your child does. He is that resolve. More aware than anyone but he and I know."_

I knew the hidden meaning in the words, of course I did. A rain's job is more than it says upfront. Ugetsu and even Squalo fulfilled their job far better than anyone gave them credit for, and apparently, Ugetsu believed that Takeshi would too. I took his words as his admittance to siding with Tsunayoshi; I knew I had my friend's faith. Knowing I wasn't alone- wasn't mad for my choice- was comforting.

* * *

But unfortunately, the calm evening and soft day did not last long. Soon enough the Varia were moving and as soon as we were close enough to the school for me to separate from Xanxus I did so, waiting on the school grounds until I was able to see Tsunayoshi coming and feel his aura again. I needed to know if he was like me, as Ugetsu had suggested.

I was waiting in the air, watching as movement shifted within the school when I felt Tsunayoshi's flames press against mine in that probing, welcoming way that the boy had no idea of. It was a testament to his compassion and his heart that his flames so openly greeted another's; even if he wasn't aware of it. It would offend some people to feel the pressure of the sky flames, but they are not me, and I find myself happy to be in his presence again. He was a saving light after all. Even when he was childish and ignorant.

Tsunayoshi appeared right behind his rain, he scrubbed his hair in a fit of confusion and anxiety, and I could almost read the thoughts **. "Who is right? What am I suppose to do? Yamamoto's opponent is that strong long haired guy!"**

I laughed despite myself; Decimo was certainly interesting and refreshing.

The a spike appeared to my right and I watched with increasing horror and anticipation as the Varia rain appeared before Takeshi, sword raised in a silent askance of battle. One the Decimo rain did not hesitate to reply.

" **If Dad says it's invincible, then why wouldn't it be?"** Takeshi grinned at his friend, and a deep warmth settled into my chest. For all I complained about the boy being only an athlete I truly did think he was perfect for the rain.

" **Invincible?! Only idiots call themselves invincible!"**

I spun my gaze onto the Varia assassin, watching as he analysed and judged the black-haired swordsman try to comfort his friend. Of course, he was right. Those who believed themselves immortal were sooner killed and never improved. It was a dangerous state of mind. Of course, the irony didn't escape me; I believed myself more than mortal, and yet, here I am forever alive in a ring.

" **Hiiiieee! No way- it was the wrong thing to do?!"**  I almost wanted to smack my descendent, though the words were spewed in his characteristic panic and paranoia- that dreaded lack of self-confidence he seemed to embody- the words could crush his friend. Had it been said to his bomber I know the battle would be won for the Varia assassin.

" _Do not feel anger towards the boy, Giotto."_  Ugetsu appeared at my side, a hand on my shoulder and a warm smile on his lips.  _"You said it, old friend, Takeshi is much stronger than that."_

" **Is it really? – feels like I'm standing in the batter's box with the last chance to score... I'm getting chills!"** The swordsman was smiling, watching the assassin with a barely contained grim of confidence and anticipation. Even I, with years of peace, felt the bristling anticipation of a true battle raging in the air. I grew excited, the air sparking with those blissful rain flames.

" **!...Yamamoto..?"**

I felt the flames in Tsunayoshi's core shift as he took in his guardian's form- the subtle shake and excitement bleeding off of him- and as I watched on, amazed and proud, I spotted the barely contained smile lifting Tsunayoshi's lips. He was confident and proud of his friend.

" **If it's Yamamoto, he'll find a way."**

There was that spark in Tsunayoshi I had seen many times, the part of him that was confident. The part that truly believed they could win. The part of him that was uncharacteristically protective and aggressive. He would make an amazing boss; he has already shown that to me.

With Ugetsu's arrival I noticed that the courtyard was much more crowded than usual. Decimo's other guardians arrived quickly the storm and sun blasting in quickly and lighting the air in friendly banter and heated arguments. Despite the sharpness of the tongues and the volume of the calls, I could see both Decimo and Takeshi relaxing, smiling a little more naturally despite the situation.

" _It is good to see you, old friend!"_  A warm, obtuse voice echoed to my right as another of my guardians appeared.  _"It is the ULTIMATE pleasure!"_

Despite the situation I embraced my friends and laughed as they began to chat comfortably. I noticed Alaude flit around, but he quickly vanished as he caught my eyes. Of course, while my friends spoke in laughter and smiled I noticed out actions all but mimicked by Decimo and his own gathered guardians.

" _It's strange to see our own actions on others, eh, Giotto?"_

" _G, I didn't think you'd come to watch anymore of the battles."_

My guardians made a non-committal sound before following the Decimo and his guardians deeper into the school grounds. I noticed Ugetsu and Knuckle chuckling lightly under their breaths at G's antics, and tried not to smirk as I noticed G's light blush, barely hidden by his long hair and red tattoos.

* * *

" **This is the battle arena, Aquarion, fit for only the perfect rain to fight in."**

Even I jumped a little as the strange women appeared upon the strange arena where the rain battle would take place. No matter how many years I had spent watching Vongola interact with the Cerevello- apart fro the first year, I was alive when my cousin became Secondo- I still cannot get over my initial reaction to them. They are strange and dangerous. They scare me more than they should.

" **Like a sinking ship."**

I couldn't help but agree with the Arcobaleno tutor, they way the arena had been sealed and destroyed looked like the inside of a doomed ship. Water falling from the ceiling and rubble littering the entire area; it was a wreck and it gave me the chills.

" _The ULTIMATE graveyard for a rain, may God protect their young souls."_

There was a crash and mingle as the mirroring flames met. Rain and rain clashed, storm flames danced out as their wielders grinned and growled at each other. But none of them compared to the great rush of energy and emotion that permeated the air between the two skies.

" **Xanxus!?"**

I watched with anticipation and unease as their eyes met in steeled, but resolved glances. There was a kind of mirroring in the internalised flames. Both were determined for their own win, and both men were strong and protective-even if they showed it in different ways. Tsunayoshi openly showed his heart, wearing it on his sleeve; a liability for damage and taken advantage of. Xanxus was different-

" **Get rid of them for me."**

He gave his support and trust by giving orders and expecting them to be fulfilled. He didn't give his heart to everyone, but equally each of his guardians has a piece of it. And I could see from their relations- as violent and brutal as they were- was the same as Decimo's. They had lived a different life after all.

" _I know that he is not related, Giotto," Ugetsu began with a frown, "but it is unnerving how similar the boy is to Secondo."_

I could only nod as I watched the tension mount. It was another time I wished I could interfere. I wished I wasn't just some unwanted referee. All I could do was watch, maybe hope that my feelings would be noticed. I wanted to stop them, to tell them that this was useless; not one of my traditions.

" _Do not get depressed, or I'll have no option but to arrest you."_

I was not exactly surprised to see my cloud guardian, he was not so much like his child guardian; he was once upon a time, but adulthood had done wonders for him. What I was more surprised about was the grin on his face, and the happiness in his stride.

" _My apologies, Alaude."_

" _Hn,"_

" _I'd give Giotto more respect, bastard."_  G's words were scoffed and not nearly as biting as say Gokudera Hayato's were, these two violent guardians had many more years of companionship than the Decimo guardians.

That didn't make it any less entertaining to watch them, though.

" **He'll probably come to watch."**

I had been so distracted by my own guardians that I hadn't noticed the new sky entering the area. While Xanxus has stalked off with his lightning- I didn't see Lampo anywhere- Tsunayoshi had continued to stare off until Dino Cavallone's arrival.

Alaude suddenly looked up and to his left, just over his shoulder before a predatorily grin ripped his lips and his eyes shot to the Cavallone heir.  _"Wao."_

I noticed not only Ugetsu, but even G raise their eyebrow at the uncharacteristic gesture of the cloud. But before I could really comment I noticed a stock of black hair, and the flickering jacket in my peripheral. I could only internally gape as I realised that Cavallone was talking about Decimo's cloud staying to watch the match. Something I never imagined even possible.

_Wao indeed._

* * *

As we all walked towards the arena, Tsunayoshi moving subtly towards the viewing area as his rain moved towards the center I suddenly felt drained and tied.

While I didn't like to admit it, I was tired of living on for eternity. I was tired of the constant ring battles and the never ending violence my famiglia caused. It was never- never- my intention for Vongola to become like this. Heir's battling with their lives for the title of next boss? It was ridiculous and disgusting. The Vongola didn't even need blood heirs! The fools were just too hung up on keeping the famiglia within the family to see that they were destroying themselves and my entire purpose of Vongola.

No, I do not blame Secondo for his actions. He did not make Vongola a mafia. I blame myself for creating the Vongola. If I had been stronger, if my people more resolved, maybe it would have never fallen. Then these two swords men- both strong and resolved to win for their 'famiglia'- would not have to meet and battle in such a grueling way.

" _Do not blame yourself, Giotto. What is happening now is not your fault."_  G walked beside me, whispering comfortingly as we strode towards the gathered.

" _You are projecting your guilt again."_ Ugetsu hummed as he approached us, _"It is unlike you, your guilt is never so strong with the candidates."_

" _Is it because they are children?"_ Knuckle asked with a nod of understanding _. "They are like you were, my friend, the same age, unwilling to be a Mafia."_ He hummed again, the whispers of 'it is so regretful' echoing the silence.

" _That doesn't matter, weakling."_ Alaude stepped up, spearing me with a strong, aggressive stare, _"They have chosen to follow the little brunet of their own free will. Stop being guilty for things you cannot control; dead or not, I will arrest you."_

A deep, but light sound bubbled from my chest as tears gathered in my eyes. The laughter was joined by Ugetsu's bubbly tone and Knuckle's boisterous booming chuckling. Even Alaude and G's sighs were half-amused, half-exasperated. It felt good to laugh. These trials were usually filled with turmoil and grief. Very few of us could talk during the half-ring tournaments, we were souls split and out opinions always clashed spectacularly. To laugh and talk amiably. It was a new, beautiful feeling.

" **Do your best..."**  Tsunayoshi's voice pulled me back from my laughter, as I was once again amazed to see the sheer awareness he had, and how well he either hid it or how truly unaware he was to having it.

I could practically feel the worry roll off of Decimo's shoulders. His face was soft and carefree, the slight worry that of a concerned friend. But underneath I could feel his flames flickering unsurely. He was worried for his friend, that was the outright truth. Of course, he was taken away by his guardians and tutor, his guardian smiling with the promise of a win under his belt.

" **I'll make you regret not running away a week ago."**

Squalo as expected and as usual was confident, grinning and happy.

" **Haha! You won't know if you don't try."**

Both were proud and brilliant. I have never, in all my years watching these tournaments seen two combatants as enthusiastic about their skill. Squalo was better, that was without question. He has years under his belt and enough training and resolve to kill his opponent with no questions asked and no blinking needed.

I understood, and agree with the assessment that Squalo really should be Decimo rain.

I watched on, G and Ugetsu at my side with frown marring their brows and both clashed spectacularly. Their swords clash and I watch them speak, but ignore their words. I feel that heavy exhaustion. That sheer weight of the battle. It is brilliant, a true show of skill against potential. But that potential scares me.

" **If you thought that was my strongest, you are a fool!"**

I'm not really sure why Squalo was offended, but the sheer disgust on his face- offended at whatever suggestion the Decimo rain made- and the sudden, angry scoff of  _"That fucking idiot,"_  from G told me that Takeshi has probably made an athlete's mistake.

Apparently, he knew he has made a mistake too.

Sheer panic surfaced on his face as he dodged the attack, sinking low and taking a stance I remembered from something long ago. It was reminiscent of a familiar swords style, but I was not versed in such things.

" _ **7th defensive form- spraying rain."**_

Ugetsu jolted for a moment, his eyes wide as he watched the fight, he was never excited about a ring battle, not even now. But something has intrigued him. Something I wish I could understand.

* * *

Time is relative, even in the best of situations. It is long, it is short. Minutes last hours and days last second. For someone who has lived too long and seen too much, guilt and exhaustion can fool the mind. Sometimes I see my time in the ring like some twisted record, I hear and I see, but I do not acknowledge.

So as the battles moves and sways, running like the water that floods the arena I notice subtle things.

" **He dodged long-haired's attack!"**  Decimo has true confidence in his friends. Everything they do is a direct fuel to his strength. This fear is  _losing_  them. Not them losing.

" **It's still a little rough...but to come this far in such a short time..."** Ugetsu has a deep pride in swordsmanship, and Cavallone's cheap words cause even my kind rain to sharpen.

" **When a normal person can fight fearlessly when suddenly plunged into the midst's of battle- other than being an idiot- it marks the true potential of a natural—born Hitman."**

The Arcobaleno had no shame! I felt fury, despite feeling nothing. I saw Ugetsu stiffen and even saw G, who did not care for Decimo, clench his fist. Alaude narrowed his eyes in a way that told me, had he been alive he would have arrested the Arcobaleno for abuse. These were children, still. Even Knuckle, who had gone out of his way to watch and support me and the others, turned away to mutter silent prayers. We all knew that once an Arcobaleno had a hold of someone they never escaped.

Me? I just felt suitably numb. I was defeated. I could do nothing.

* * *

" **Squalo looks extremely pleased about something."**

Knuckle startles only slightly as Dino spoke his words. Of course I turned to my friend and found a contemplative look on his face. Of all my guardians it was Knuckle who could read expressions with the best clarity. He could even read Ottavo, who I sometimes had difficulty reading during her life.

" _What id it, Knuckle?"_

My black-haired friend startled again before looking at me with a contemplative, if not confused face. He looked back at Dino and Deimo as they spoke again is whispered urgency, before looking back at me.

" _Cavallone and Squalo know each other, and despite appearances and what the assassin might say, they are very close friends too."_

Of course this shocked me, I knew nothing of the Varia's past. Or at least, nothing of the guardians' pasts. I knew a little about Belphegor and Mammon, I knew about Squalo's rise to fame and his near miss as boss-hood. But I knew next to nothing about their personal life. It made me feel inadequate and wrong. I was being bias-

" _I would say that Cavallone is bias towards the assassin, even if he wants his 'brother' to win."_

-more so than even the Cavallone child.

It made me feel like I had failed. And the worse thing was I didn't even know why.

* * *

" **I'm not here to kill you; I'm only here to win."**

It is such a simple thing. It is something you wouldn't even blink at. Well of course you're not going to kill someone, right? Isn't it normal to inch away from killing?

In our world it is not.

I cannot even explain to you the sheer shock that hearing the innocence of youth in the mafia. I cannot tell you the joy, grief, turmoil, or guilt that assaults you at such flippant, innocent words. We are bloody and we are cruel. I will not lie. Vongola, even in my day, was willing to kill those in the Mafia to defend the innocent and help the helpless. We were not saints, though we were worshiped as such. We decided, and were determined; if the mafia had to exist as some twisted hierarchy, then we as the Vongola would take the sin and taint for the innocent to protect them.

But never were there such passion and innocence, such raw determination and potential in Vongola.

" _Not killing..?"_

" _Wao."_

" _Is he an idiot?"_

" _God bless his innocent soul."_

I don't really understand how we could have missed it. How any of my guardians were so hung-up on the idea of someone actually not wanting to kill, that we didn't notice the battle raging on, I will never know.

I know that, for the moments where I let my awareness drift away, my only thoughts were disgust. How far had we fallen? How tainted and twisted had we become when we assumed that fourteen year old children were ready, willing or even expected to kill another child only three years older than themselves? What had I done to my friends when they sat, shell-shocked at the realisation that killing wasn't always the answer?

I was disgusted. Truly, and wholly disgusted with the power of the mafia.

Sure, we were raised in a different time. Italy was overrun with the Mafia, with men who raped and took advantage of everyone. But never, never did I think that we would be so exposed ad desensitised to the Mafia taint that we would become mafia ourselves.

" **This style of yours? I defeated it long, long ago!"**

How could Squalo look so happy at the prospect of crushing another?

" **Oh? Mine is invincible."**

How could this child, bloodied and wounded, still talk with such assurance? So sure he would not kill but would win the title for his friend?

" **I'm done holding back."**

And I swear, on my ring and my family that Squalo didn't look cocky or even foolhardy. His smirk was neither confident nor sinister. The silver-haired man looked true to whatever-God happy. He looked pleased, excited, and whole. It was as if someone had given him a best friend. I suppose, in some sense of the Mafia, he was finally finding someone who was outside of it all. Someone, who at the end of the day, was genuinely having fun. It was, as they charged and clashed again, truly a fight of skills and testosterone. No holds, no consequences. It was a battle that I could tell, made both Takeshi and Squalo extremely contented.

* * *

" **Requiem of Rain."**

I knew the move well. Squalo was famous for his debilitating attack. He had downed many swordsmen with his paralysing strikes, and it seemed, no matter how much time had passed or how much potential Decimo's rain had, he would be defeated by the rain of another.

" **How many years pass...and he doesn't change?"**  Xanxus has a nostalgic expression on his face, contemplative but content. He knew his rain would win; he had confidence, even if he didn't show it.

I do not know what post the two Varia leaders had with each other. I knew few things of their youth. I stayed with Nono up until a few months ago, and then I was split and shipped. I knew of Xanxus' past- as a son of Timoteo it isn't unusual, but I knew nothing of how Squalo and Xanxus met, not about why they trusted each other so much, despite being over the top with their displays of aggressions and distrust.

" _It is not smart to be so narrow with a technique."_ Knuckle hummed with a slight disappointment.  _"As an assassin, I would think he knew this well."_

" **I'm about to deliver the death blow."**

I watched Tsunayoshi startle and I felt the spike of flames all around us. Tsunayoshi knew that the shark was aiming his jibe at him, hoping to goad as violent a reaction as there was for the storm battle. But Tsunayoshi kept his tongue. He was more comfortable around the rain, as was always the case. It helped that the rain was soothing and calm and didn't bow at Decimo's feet, but you couldn't really help the attribute of storm that flowed in Hayato Gokudera's veins.

" **Surging Rain."**

I didn't even believe it when Squalo fell. His body hit the water with a slash and silence. As the assassin fell I could see his world fade, Takeshi had still used the back of his sword. He had kept his ideals, and I was amazed that he was so strong.

" **He came up with that on the spot?"**  I don't believe that is totally true, because he had the makings of greatness in his blood. Tsuyoshi was an incredible man, and I had a feeling he was hiding more than having a doujo could explain away.

" **He's a natural born killer."**

I watched both Ugetsu and Knuckle stiffen. Though I could not blame them. The Arcobaleno did not chose his words as carefully as it seemed, if he had said 'fighter' or 'swordsman' then it would be excusable because Takeshi was all of those things. He was a natural athlete and possessed strong fighting instinct that seemed to be the core talent he possessed. But no one. I mean  _ **no one**_  was a natural killer. To call a child of fourteen a killer- even my stomach churned uncomfortably.

" _That Arcobaleno needs to learnt o hold his tongue."_  Knuckle hissed somewhat, I watched him sighn to his God and whisper a harsh prayer for forgiveness for his actions..

" _Takeshi is a child. How dare he say that against my candidate."_  I watched with widening eyes as Ugetsu's words registered in my mind. He had addressed Takeshi not as a candidate but as I addressed Tsunayoshi, as if they were our children. It made me shiver, I hate were we are in the mafia, how we think. But to know we are changed so easily by this generation. It is scary, exciting, worrisome, and enthralling all at once.

" _He is a Hitman; you cannot fault him for his keen eye when that is all he can do anymore. He has been in the mafia too long."_

" _Condemning children is never excused."_  I was surprised when that didn't come out of Knuckle's or Ugetsu's mouth, but instead my own.

Were those really my beliefs now, having met Tsunayoshi?"

" **I won!"**

I wanted to laugh at Takeshi's expression, and I heard Ugetsu chuckle under his breath beside me. For all the seriousness in his expression, and the number of times during that battle where I froze with realisation of his potential, Takeshi shill maintained that childish-innocence. He was completely euphoric about winning; I bet he would have danced had the situation not been more serious.

" **Squalo."**  The words were whispered, a slip of the tongue. I saw Xanxus flinch for just a moment before his booming voice overpowered the doubt that he had previously spoken.

" **All that big talk... and he still looses!?"**  Xanxus was laughing, bent over and slapping his knee. Completely entertained by his members defeat.  **"He's no use to us anymore."**

But there was more to his words. Somewhere deep down, loyalty was still at his core.

" **The water has reached a level where the beast has been released."**  The Cerevello prevented more bloodshed, herding the Varia back to their boss, however, they probably caused the most damage of the night, and completely unintentionally as well.

" **Wait! What...is gonna happen to Squalo?"**  He sounded like a child, confused, lost. A child who didn't understand an adults' line of thinking.

" **Thought so...nothing for it then..."**  suddenly the snappish man was heaved onto Decimo rain's shoulders, the man staggered a little, the boy was four years younger than Squalo. Even if Takeshi was just as muscular.

" **Put me down."**  Squalo's words were tense, but he had a deep lingering feeling behind them,  **"I am a swordsman, and I have my pride."**

I watched with pained focus as Squalo threw himself to the shark that circled the arena. I knew as I watched his expression that it wasn't his pride alone that rejected Takeshi's help. Squalo was honourable and strong, but he knew that Takeshi was not yet strong enough to save them both. Squalo's loyalty and pride, and that honour deep in his chest knew that the one with the potential needed to live; and in the Mafia, no Sky could live without Rain.

"Your swordsmanship ain't bad kid. It needs a lot of seasoning"

Even Squalo knew, or possibly hoped, as the Shark came for him, that Tsunayoshi would become the sky for Vongola. Though, I believe that all rain's have an instinct to knew what is needed for their boss, and Squalo knew that Xanxus needed a defeat, and someone like my Tsunayoshi to heal him form the wounds he had self-inflicted.

" **That pain in the ass is fish food!"**

Xanxus' laugh was boisterous, and I saw tears gather at the strain of the laugh against his gut.

" **That ties up loose ends."**

But his words were soft and I knew he felt the loss of his right-hand, even if he couldn't outwardly show it.

I do not believe that Xanxus is unfit to be a boss. He is simply everything that Tsunayoshi is not. Together they would make, I believe, the  _perfect_  boss. T

he softness and steel would counter each other to make someone who could comfort and reprimand.

The compassion and practicality would clash and make someone like Kevlar, flexible but impenetrable.

Of course, they each made beautiful bosses in their own right. I just wish that in the future they can work together, because nothing would stop Vongola if these two bosses joined forced to lead them. Maybe with Tsunayoshi as Decimo that is possible.

" **Dammnit!"**  Takeshi fell to the rubble, shaking and confused. His eyes stayed on the wash of blood and I knew that this would change him internally. This death would probably be more of a milestone than any kill he had to put in for Tsuna in the future. And I hated knowing that.

" _I wish that this wasn't his first battle."_ Ugetsu sighed, his eyes glistening in a way that was not tearful, _"Squalo is a good man, he didn't deserve to go out like that. Takeshi is just a child...to see that..."_

" **Squalo died...and his Boss doesn't even care!"**

My heart still bled for Squalo. I knew he was a strong and loyal man. He was righteous, and I knew in time he could have changed his boss for the better. But I was still with myself enough to feel pride in Tsunayoshi, and I knew at least Ugetsu and Knuckle appreciated the openly protective, if not innocent values he held as he cussed out Xanxus' actions in his own way.

I wonder, how would Tsunayoshi react if he knew Xanxus' core values, as I had seen? I almost shake with excitement at the prospect of them meeting when Tsunayoshi's intuition is burning through his veins. Would he realise it then, that Xanxus isn't as cold as he outwardly appears?

" _Hn, the Cavallone is an interesting man."_ Alaude appeared between Ugetsu and I, watching the Decimo gathering with interest and exhaustion.  _"He is openly hypocritical, het he understands more."  
"You can almost read his thoughts while you look at him, hmm?"_ Knuckle whispered at our side.

No one agreed with him, because we were all thinking the same, hypocritical thing. We all watched Decimo's group, and even the Varia members, knowing the minimum about them,

_They are just children...made to fight adult battles._

None of us could really say anything, we were attached to the Decimo in some way, be that disagreement or faith in them becoming Decimo. We all saw ourselves in them, except we away an innocent version of ourselves. Even at fourteen and fifteen we knew the pain and filth of the world. We were street rats. We knew of death and deceit. These children lived in a time where they did not see, and it was truly our fault that they were seeing it now.

" _We can only wait until tomorrow. It's the mist battle."_  G swung his arm around my shoulder, and as one movement we drifted away from the children and back into our rings.


	11. Been to hell and back

There was a steely kind of electricity in the air on the night of the mist battle, I couldn't place it, and I wouldn't be able to until the battles were all over. But that night, as I waited with the Varia, I felt my gut clench uncomfortably.

I could almost hear my mist's words in my head, ringing and ringing as if they were some kind of twisted leash, ' _Why are you acting so weak, Giotto? That is not the man I decided to follow.'_  even in death and separation, Daemon still managed to get under my skin. I allowed him to, because he was precious to me, but it didn't make it any less uncomfortable.

" **Boss I've come to ask a favour...to use that power tonight."**

I wasn't so unnerved by the question as the consequences it entailed. Though, I would put my unease down to the fact that I had no idea who Decimo's guardian of mist was. He had no friends with the affinity, and it was so unwise to make a guardian out of a man who was not your friend; a lesson me and my guardians has learnt the harsh way.

" **Go ahead, mammon."**

Mammon was strong, too. It didn't help my unease to realise this. Though trapped in that accursed Arcobaleno body, the man was strong and undeniably intelligent. It made my skin crawl to be so in the dark about Tsunayoshi's guardian. If I knew at least their skill set I could calm myself some.

Xanxus was confident, and I didn't know if I could be. I knew Decimo would win and that his mist was going to be powerful; but I  _didn't_  know. It was a repeat of so many of Decimo's other battles. It made me tired and hurt. Sighing and crossing my arms over my chest, I allowed myself to fade back into my ring. I would await the battle with great trepidation, as I did every other battle. This one different only because of the raging curiosity in the back of my mind.

* * *

G appeared with me as usual when the Varia had arrived at the Gym. But he was the only guardian. Few of us had forgiven our friend for what he had done to us in life, though I may have been the only one to still consider him as such, and I was under no disillusion that my only supporter here tonight would be G; I would never be able to thank him enough for his loyalty, I knew that. I was also not really sure that my mist would even appear, he was so flippant with his job, and it was often that these guardianship battles ended without him having judged or seen his candidates.

" _Only two more battles, boss."_ G explained with a sigh, he yawned lightly before running a hand through his hair. _"Good riddance, I hate these things."_

" _Sorry, G. But a duty is a duty."_

G made a non committal sound and I knew he was telling me that I was being ridiculous, but it was hard not to feel guilty. Though it was not my intention to pull my friends into this, our wills will continue to live on in our rings.

I looked around the arena with interest, it was always curious, the mist battles. For Vongola the mists' jobs were to create, to build what was never there out of objects nowhere to be seen and to hide immovable structures in a way that can make people believe they were never there to begin with. So I supposed that this arena was perfect.

The gymnasium was empty, all the balls used that afternoon in lessons were stored away, the lights shone brightly on the gleaming floor, and the benches usually lining all four walls were pushed against the two north and south facing ones instead.

Tsunayoshi sat on the south facing wall, knocked out for some reason, though I imagine it has something to do with that Hitman tutor of his so I wasn't exactly…concerned by it.

" _Here come the brats."_  G sighed, he pulled a cigarette from his pocket and as he lit it I sighed. Even in death the habit sticks.

" **Hey boss, how you doin'?"**  
As usual, at the storm guardians brash fussing, G beside me scoffed and turned away in frustration. Though the boy had a good heart and a similar loyalty to his sky as G had when we were younger the young storm had much more to learn than G ever did.

" **Your eye!"**

The rain laughed it off, pointing to his eye and babbling on about how he was fine. He knew –even if he wasn't totally aware of the 'mafia' –that his friend needed reassurance, and he gave it willingly.

" **Thank goodness."**

I know it sounds strange, but I enjoyed seeing Tsunayoshi open up more to his guardians. I enjoyed seeing him worry about them, and become relieved once he knew they were emotionally and –for the most part –physically alright too. It showed his makings of a leader; not a boss, but a friend.

A sudden cool rush caused my gut to flip, and I was suddenly aware of a cool wash of warm flames and a sudden explosion of hot energy press against my own sky flames. Surprised and confused I spun around to see Knuckle and Ugetsu appear out of the air behind us. I had not expected them to appear tonight; no guardians cared for the mist battles.

I felt a chilling rush as the Varia entered, but it wasn't because of the Varia themselves.

" _Giotto, it's the ultimate pleasure to see you again!"_

" _Yare, Yare. More bothersome battles."_

" _Hnn, these brats haven't been following the rules of this competition. Much like you, Giotto."_

The Varia was like graceful cats. They strolled in as one group, strong and firm, but there was an individuality to them that spoke miles about their strength and independence from each other that made their teamwork both hectic and near perfect.

Xanxus sat heavily in his chair, talking quietly to mist guardian and I thought he looked somewhat lost, missing his Rain as he was; his other –living –guardians stood around waiting with silent assurance.

" **Sawada Tsunayoshi. We need your mist guardian candidate to step forward or you will be forced to forfeit this match."** The Cervello were in the centre of the gym, looking on with their masked eyes and important airs.

Just as Tsunayoshi was about to voice his protest of not even  _having_  a mist guardian I watched as his entire body froze. I felt his flames bucked in confusion. As our intuitions touched for a second I felt the shiver of unease assault him before he spun around to watch the gymnasium doors with a cool gaze similar to his HDW mode. Though the look was short lived, and soon a name tumbled off his tongue in a mix of unease, surprise, and deep in there too was relief.

" **Mukuro…?"**

Two boys stepped through the doors, and I knew from the surprised looks that they were both expected and yet not the boy that my candidate had be sure was behind the shiver of emotion that wracked his spine.

As these feral boys argued with Decimo's guardians I watched with interest as another figure stepped into the brightness of the gym from the gloom of the school yard.

First thing I noticed was the dead silence in my guardians. As the young girl, pale and short, walked into the light I noticed a deep similarity between someone painfully close to us all; not in appearance, but certainly in the aura of strength and resolve she held in the way she stood and walked.

She was unnaturally pale, and she walked with a hidden strength buried in nervousness and fear. Her hair was an unusual hue of indigo and was dressed up to hide its true length. She was painfully skinny, and I wince as she moved and revealed a stomach somewhat sunken into her hips. Her clear, pretty purple eyes were round and soft, or at least the visible one was, the other was hidden under a stiff, black eye patch tied to her face with thin stings.

Suddenly I felt killing intent to my right, and I watched unease and terror flash through Takeshi and Hayato, both of them looking on edge at the girl's appearance; Hayato's metaphorical hackles raised in protest and Takeshi's smile dropped into a controlled glare. I was floored, as were my guardians.

" _Who is she, to cause even Takeshi to become so cold?"_  Asari's voice was almost in pain as he spoke that, because she was a child; how could she threaten such strong boys?

" **I bet he's possessing her! It's his most nefarious ability!"**

I could not argue with Hayato. From what I had heard from whispers of this 'Rokudo Mukuro' I wouldn't put it past the boy to possess such a fragile, sweet girl. Or for her to agree to be possessed by such a charismatic, violent boy.

But I also do not know the boy, I don't know if he has even had any contact with this child. For all I know the similarities that are shocking Tsunayoshi's chosen guardians are coincidental.

" _Hn, the children are quick to judge."_  Alaude huffed at my side. He did not look impressed by the prey-tactics shown in the children's actions. He liked predators, strong and free-minded men and women who could think for themselves.

So far only Hayato and Tsunayoshi had truly shown such fore thinking. The rest wither followed or could not see outside the box.  
 _"Possession… that's a devils trade."_  Knuckle hummed, he understood that the trade of a bible demon was not the same in the living world.  _"To be so young and achieving this skill, do you think he was forced?"_

" _I don't know much about the boy they talk about, Knuckle."_  I answered honestly,  _"Only from what you and the others have managed to gather."_  
 _"Maa, so let's not be quick to judge."_  Asari came up on my left and squeezed my shoulder, smiling and washing the unease away.  _"This Rokudo-kun may not even the guardian."_

" **She's not Mukuro."**  Tsunayoshi explained, his eyes staring at her in slight confusion.

She was not Rokudo, but she caused Tsunayoshi's intuition to buck in the same way. I could read the confusion on Tsunayoshi's face. It was rather amusing.

" **You're sure?"**  It was saddening to think for all Hayato's loyalty he second guessed his boss. It was also a good sigh; he wasn't blindly following Tsunayoshi, he could help my child grow.

" _At least that bomb has some kind of a head on his shoulders."_ G scoffed.

" _They are boys, G. They will learn."_  Asari almost chuckled.

" **Thank you, boss."** The girl smiled sweetly, a shy expression on her face as she kissed her boss.

I had seen it before in a few of my younger subordinates. She was used to being used and insulted; she didn't shake nor falter under the storm's harsh retaliation. I imagine she's had it all before. I was also very glad that Tsunayoshi was able to calm his guardians and settle the young girl's nerves.

I wasn't happy that this delicate girl was being used as a guardian; but these are not  _my_  guardians so I have no say.

My guardians, I could see them begin to shift in anticipation, and again I was surprised by their appearance at the mist battle. Never before in all our centuries of watching had they appeared to watch this particular succession. Yet, here they all were.

The girl looked like Elena, it was painfully clear that she was similar; in appearance and spirit. She held that strength to her, that quiet, nervous strength that would bloom as she aged if she had a strong, compassionate boss like Tsunayoshi. The way she moved was graceful and spoke of what she could become; a beautiful woman of might and stability.

So it was even more of a wonder to me why my guardians started to unconsciously shift in anticipation, whispering about potential. If this was Elena's embodiment in Decimo's era then surely she would cause the opposite reaction; after all, Elena was our dear friend and her death still haunts us. Especially since her soul was unable to dwell with us in the rings.

" **Seems like she's a special one...we could sell her for quite the profit."**

Mammon's whispers were expected. It was disgusting, and I saw Alaude twitch uncomfortably at the mention of human trafficking; but it was expected. Mammon was not like my candidate and Xanxus even less so. They were conditioned into the Mafia, meaning they held little care for weaker human life. Drugs, humans, and firearms; it was the Mafia's trade.

" _Disgusting excuse for the strong."_ Alaude spat.

" **Boss...do you see me qualified to be your guardian?"**

She was more nervous facing him now, knowing that he had the final verdict. She was not strong, she knew that, and I thought her very strong for being able to admit that.

" _What a sweet girl,"_ Knuckle smiled, watching her shift uncomfortably.

" _Hn, if she can back up her words that's all that matter."_  Alaude came off as cold, but I could see him itching. In the past such a girl would be protected, not allowed to charge into the fray that her protector could not save her from.

Tsuna couldn't afford to lose another ring.

" **...do your best Chrome"**

He may not have seemed confident in the girl. I could see his honour jumping uncomfortably at the thought of letting a girl he didn't know –wasn't sure could defend herself –fight for him. I didn't know at the time, but when I later learnt that Tsunayoshi had accepted her, even with the stigma of her being his useless father's choice of a guardian I was so proud of Tsunayoshi; he followed his heart and didn't let blinding prejudices stop him.

He was becoming a clear, harmonious sky before my eyes. It was thrilling and I couldn't help the deep swell of pride in my chest as a grin spread on my face.

But Tsunayoshi could feel –even if he didn't know this was the case –their flames harmonise. A sky flame missing some elements knows what it needs; usually better than its wielder does.

* * *

The mist, it's one of the less straight forward positions in the guardians I think.

" _Creating something from nothing, and nothing from something. Thereby bewildering the enemy, to render the Famiglia's true from intangible with visions of deceit."_

Even if I whispered it to myself I watched G and Alaude look over at me with eyebrows raised. Asari was watching the girl's battle with a frown, and Knuckle was doing the same. Lampo drifted by, uninterested, though he never faced his back to the battle once.

I could tell that Xanxus was impressed as the girl fought on, attacking with fire and ice, clashing mind versus mind in the most complex fight of instinct and skill. Xanxus was impressed with Chrome, not having a female in his own group. He was not sexist in the least, but all the women he had ever tried to recruit had failed to live up to Varia standard, Chrome seemed to be making him change his mind. Xanxus also knew that female illusionists were much harder to come by than male ones, simply because they took longer to train, even if they were stronger in the end. Xanxus had faith in Mammon but he was losing to a young female who looked frail enough to snap.

Not that illusionists were particularly known for their physical strength anyway.

Suddenly she staggered, her illusion shattered and her mind touched by the Arcobaleno. I saw the girl's reality crumble, even if it was minute; but that was all it took.

The trident in her hands shattered around her, raining over her in a shower of glittering, black and silver shards. I sighed, because it was unfortunate that she lost her weapon, but it wasn't the end of the world; or at least I thought so.

Suddenly Chrome was on the floor, breathing ragged and sweat started to form along ever visible part of skin.

"What is-"  
 _"Her stomach, dear_ fucking _God …it's collapsing."_  I watched Knuckle become pale as he watched, not even yelling at G for taking the Lord's name in vain.

" _She doesn't have any…"_  He mumbled in disbelief, clutching the rosary in his hand,  _"She doesn't have any internal organs."_

I was about to ask again, making sure I had heard my sun, and our resident healer, if I had heard right, but the girl's pained, sweet voice drifted closer first.  **"Master Mukuro... I wanted to help you."**

I watched the girl tear up, wasting away on the floor of the gym. It was painful and I looked away.

This was my fault in the end.

" _ **You did well, my precious Chrome. Now, rest for a bit."**_  The words weren't spoken, but neither were they imaginary; it was as if the smooth voice had infected our minds, and was everywhere all at once.

I felt more that witnessed my heir shudder. It was violent and familiar to me; but I know it must have terrified my descendent.

Hyper intuition was the first, last and only warning to a life-threat. It was a mix of every instinct and reflex rolled into a violent attack on mind and body. I doubt Tsunayoshi has witnessed it too many times, it took me years to get over, and watching Tsuna shudder with paling skin and widening eyes I wondered how long it would take him to be used to it. As his pupils narrowed to near pinpricks I winced; it was a rather violent reaction.

A mirroring shiver assaulted my spine, but it was far less violent and much more familiar, as I observed Decimo grip his hair. I didn't turn, and I didn't startle. I knew who was coming with the same hyper intuition I had passed onto Tsunayoshi. It was a godsend and a curse to bear such foresight.

" _It's been a long time, Daemon."_

" _Nufufufufu,"_  The cunning sound grated my ears as it appeared on my left, closer than comfortable.  _"Good evening, Giotto, and here I thought you had forgotten me. It has been a long time."_

I took on a smooth smile at the appearance of my guardian, though my other friend's drew to my side, disquieted, making them seem a lot less calm than they were.

" **He's almost here! Rokudo Mukuro."**

As Daemon appeared at my side, the lovely lady in the centre of the ring changed too, changing form entirely to mirror a man I had heard about in whispers of Decimo's subconscious; Mukuro Rokudo.

" **You're getting bold...you Mafioso."**

He was frowning, looking out over his crew and his sky. His eyes locked with Xanxus' for a moment and I saw him startle –not from fear or unease I observed –before they slid back around to his sky.

He smirked then, as if pleased to see the teen watching him so strongly. I would have said that Mukuro was pleased to know that Tsunayoshi still had that eerie ability to sense him; as if pleased that he was still a threat to Tsunayoshi even after their long separation.

" **It's been a while. Now I'm back from the far reaches of the cycle of rebirth**."

* * *

Mukuro was strong, stronger than I ever imagined. Sure the guardians and even Tsunayoshi's tutor had been whispering in unease about this teenage boy. But why would I believe them when they had all proven to be exaggerators of every kind. It seemed though, as the man wiped the floor with the Varia guardians that they were all right, and Mukuro had more potential to come.

Mukuro shattered another illusion, laughing as if he were in a game.

" _At least one guardian seems to be having no trouble,"_  G scoffed, watching with crossed arms and a bored expression on his face.

" _I am confused, where did he learn such skills?"_  Asari hummed, his hands touching the swords at his hip in contemplation.

"He's terrifying." Lampo was quiet, at my right, trying to look away, yet watching anyway.

I saw it again, in my guardians who had arrived, that strangely giddy joy in having a Daemon look-a-like in the ring for Decimo. It unnerved me, sent my head spinning. Of course I knew they were not happy because he looked like Daemon, but instead because he acted more brutal; he was mafia. He was everything the Vongola would need to survive in the mafia. It scared me to think that my guardians wanted such a future for our famiglia.

Had my family fallen so far?

Had they forgotten what this man had done?  
I was lost in my thoughts again as I had been during young Takeshi's battle, and I ignored the skill of illusionary arts that Mukuro was showing and allowed myself to reeled away from the mafia for a moment. I was so lost to the world that I didn't even care when my intuition flashed and sparked at me to pay attention.

As the battle raged and I was left watching and wondering about my guardians, I felt Tsunayoshi's flames spike and fall in uncomfortably bounces. My head, in reflection, started to sting, and by the time I looked over to him he was on his knees, being pulled into the memories of his mist, and I too along with it.

* * *

I saw the land around us burn and waste away as snow drifted around. Three children were knelt in the cold filth, covered in bandages and wounds that could not have been self-inflicted; they were too precise, too clean, too well stitched.

These children had been  _ **experimented**_  on.

These children had been  _ **abused**_ for the  _ **mafia's**_  gain!

They were covered with blood that was not their own, and they were weakened from whatever hell they had just stepped through.

I watched Mukuro pause and the boys following him stumble to a similar stop. My seething was halted, my brain supplying or me that these words were important; I needed to hear them.

" **From here you'll only get in my way. So take off, I'll manage better by myself."**

My eyes widened, and I saw Tsuna's consciousness mimic my action as we watched this selfish, violent man act for someone else. We watched, floored by the kindness and cruelty in this boy; only a child at the time. He was saving the two boys who followed him –who I imagine would follow him anywhere –at the cost of his own freedom.

Vindicare arrived, all black cloaks and faulted morals. And suddenly nothing was coherent.

Years flashed before my eyes as I watched through Tsunayoshi everything that bonded this mist to this sky. We watched as Mukuro escaped Vindicare and fought for the freedom of both himself and his friends; how later he would fight for Chrome too.

Then we were faced with Young Lion and I inwardly raged a little, because the man tried to give his son the best, he truly did; but he was faulted in an unforgivable way. He stood before Mukuro as I do now, not his physical body but the possessed body of the mirroring female he saved.

He offered Chrome and Mukuro a temporary reprisal; a pardon so long as Tsunayoshi wanted them by his side. It didn't grant Mukuro his physical freedom, but it granted Chrome hope for a cure to her frail body, and granted Mukuro hope for the safety he longed for all his life.

" **Mukuro...you accepted?"**  Tsunayoshi's thoughts, for once, was much clearer there in that strange mindscape he and …his mist shared. It was strange and uncomfortable; I felt like I was overstepping some boundaries. It was as if I was violating both Tsunayoshi and Mukuro, and in turn Chrome too.

But I smiled as I watched the world around us fade away and the battle become the focus again; Tsunayoshi was seeing Mukuro for what he really was, maybe that didn't forgive Mukuro for all he had done to Tsuna, for in that mindscape I was able to see Tsunayoshi's past with this criminal, but seeing Mukuro's past and feeling his emotions did help clear away the fear and unease that Tsunayoshi felt whenever the boy was near.

But I saw what Tsuna and my guardians could not see; what differentiated this boy, Mukuro, and his partner from Daemon.

I saw true concern for the members of his famiglia.

Those boys, Ken and Chikusa, Mukuro did not have to save them from Estraneo. You could argue the semantics of 'precious' and 'subordinate' all you like, but it was more effort and risk to save them and keep them alive during all the years between the massacre and now. Chrome too was saved by Mukuro and though the girl was in poor health, so was her companions; Mukuro included. He was doing the best he could do while trapped in prison in their place. I simply hoped that he would see that my Tsunayoshi truly cared and would help them if he were given the chance to help.

I knew then that Tsunayoshi too had accepted Mukuro as other half of his mist.

* * *

" _Giotto!"_

I was aware of being shaken next, Knuckle checking me over with grim precision. The haze world I had been dragged into dropped off of my mind as I watched the battle again. I was mutely aware that Tsunayoshi's own guardians were fretting over their suddenly silent sky too.

How comforting.

" _I am sorry to worry you so,"_ I smiled gently at my dear friends; Daemon looked put out, and I imagine he saw exactly the same events as I, only pulled in by Mukuro instead of Tsunayoshi.  _"My descendent and I simply resonated for a moment."_

Lampo sighed and I could see the relief weakening his knees; though he didn't show it much _, "Yare yare, and here I thought you were finally getting old, Giotto."_

" _Isn't that awfully rare, Giotto."_ Asari frowned, looking at the weakened Tsunayoshi with concern and curiosity.

" _That has never happened before."_  And coming from G's mouth that was more foreboding than Daemon's arrival.

" _Nufufufufu, it seems like the convict is much stronger than we thought, so cruel."_  Daemon laughed, and everyone' eyes snapped back to the battle; a twisted curiosity in their eyes.

Mammon was struggling, his reality was shattering and he was unsteady on his feet. I could see it; panic.

" **You know very well don't you? If I have broken your illusion I have broken into your mind."**

I watched in grim fascination, and as I cast my eyes I around at my guardians I noticed the same. We watched the world twist and warp all around the Varia mist, and he I could see was panicked, choking his own mind as it was invaded by one so much more twisted and cruel than he; someone with a better handle on this warped reality.

" **This is my world!"**

It unnerved me the sheer thrill and insanity that oozed into those words, that Mukuro was so happy to torment and destroy the mind of his opponent did not bode well; his threats were obviously true. He wanted my heir's mind, wanted to shatter and taint it.

With Daemon laughing near hysterically in time with his candidate beside me made it even worse; made my stomach flip actually.

" **You lost because I was your opponent."**

Mammon seemed to explode and I had to look away even if I knew it was all an illusion. Such cruelty in a boy who has not yet reached manhood. It was sickening. It was wrong!

" _Nufufuf. Oh, my."_ Daemon grinned,  _"Such raw power; certainly he is worthy."_

" _He's a child, Daemon!"_ I reprimanded my voice solidifying as I spoke to my guardian.

" _He is also in the mafia, dear Giotto. Or did you forget what your_ precious _family has become, hmm?"_

I was floored at his words, and took a step back in stuttering confusion and grief; he knew how I hated what had become of everything I worked for. He  _knew_. That is why Daemon hates me so, why he hates my 'boy' and looks on in wonder at Mukuro so.

Tsunayoshi is too much like me, with all that disgusting innocence that Daemon despises; wishes he still had himself. Innocence that reminds him so much of his beautiful Elena.

Mukuro is twisted and broken, destroyed and moulded by the Mafia both he and the younger boy despise. Insanity that neither Mukuro nor Daemon believed either Tsunayoshi or me could save them from.

" _Shut your trap, bastard."_ G snapped, stepping in front of me to hide my flinches.  _"You're sick to speak of children like that."_

" _It saddens me to know you have not yet forgiven, Daemon."_  Knuckles soft voice had Daemon's hackles raised, undignified that a priest four years his junior would dare chastise him so.

As we argued quietly, in hushed voices we missed the announcement of the winner, but I caught Tsunayoshi, Xanxus, and Mukuro's interaction with intrigue.

" **You didn't have to go so far!"**

I was silently proud that Tsunayoshi actually spoke up, and that he believed what his guardian had done was wrong. I had worried that watching the illusionary man explode would leave Tsunayoshi traumatised; afraid of his own guardian.

" _Maa, he sounds like you Giotto."_ Asari laughed at my side; I was almost disturbed that he could laugh so freely after watching such a grim illusion.  _  
"Exactly like you when you decided I'm not allowed more dessert."_ Lampo frowned, but he was not looking at the battle, and I could see the green creep into his face as his flames settled uncomfortably. My lightning hadn't changed much since he was a young teen; for that I was glad.

If he was comparing Tsunayoshi to me than he obviously approved; Lampo openly approved of so few, after all.

" **Even now you're showing so much sympathy to an enemy…just how naive can you be, Sawada Tsunayoshi?"**

" _I do not like to admit that that mist child is right, Giotto. But your candidate will meet an early grave if he isn't careful."_

I stared at my cloud in worry, because he had never really addressed Tsunayoshi –or the other candidates –with so many words thus far. For him to speak now…

" _I loathe agreeing with any of these fools either, but he is right. Your candidate is going to meet an unpleasant fate soon. Nufufufu."_

As Xanxus gave his next order I winced and noticed the rest of my guardians go off on a tangent with each other, leaving only Daemon and I to watch the interactions below.

" **You really are the dark side of the mafia, aren't you Xanxus. Even I would be awed at the despicable plan you've thought up."**

" _What plan?"_  I spoke aloud, confused and wary of this strange teen's words. He had seen things I would not see even in my afterlife; he could probably see things that even my own intuition was blind to.

" _Nufufufu, dear Giotto you are naïve. To not see what this man is planning; you really have learnt nothing."_ Daemon looked positively beaming at whatever it was Xanxus was planning, and Mukuro was privy too; it solidified my thought that these two men, my one mist guardian and Tsunayoshi's, could see things with their strange illusionary power.

I was terrified to find out what could make my mist look so happy. To be happy at a man who to me, was going to destroy Vongola.

" **Just one thing though….the other candidate though smaller, and weaker than you….is not really someone you should trifle with, for your own good."**

I watched, my own eyes widening and jaw slackening as Mukuro addressed Xanxus with stiff finality. Assured without flaw that his sky would win this battle and would be the next boss.

" _Did I witness that…?" Asari asked, jaw wide as he watched the boy, he knew as I did that the boy's emotions were not of trickery but of self-assurance and the closest thing to trust that the mist-boy could conjure._

" _Che, seems the boy isn't so unworthy of being in our family as we thought."_ Because G was right, while before his cool threats and evil intentions made him unfavourable for Vongola it was obvious now that he was not so hard-hearted and instead was secretive of his true emotions.  _"He is still too damned violent though; he's your fucking doppelganger, Daemon."_

" _G, he is a child."_ Knuckle reprimanded, but I could see my friend shift uncomfortably under Daemon and G's potent gazes. He was a man of endless forgiveness, but even he was burnt by our friends' betrayal so long ago.

" _He is a child that will fix this family; even if it is under the wreckage of his skies mind. He is strong enough to do it. Nufufufu."_

All of a sudden I was overwhelmed by the need to defend my child; from my guardian and his own. I felt shivers of disgust and a gut-clenching fear tackle me to the torso. Daemon had just threatened my child; I didn't want to stand for it!

" _Do not fall for his goad, you weak-hearted fool."_  Alaude hummed sternly beside my ear, glaring at Daemon, who was smirking at me, knowing I had taken the bait.  _"He isn't worth your breathe nor your concern anymore; pay attention to your descendent and these insufferable battles you make us attend."_

Daemon just kept laughing, and I wanted so much to vouch for Tsunayoshi as my chosen heir and for Mukuro just out of pride. No way would my child's guardian do such a thing, I had faith that things would be different, that-

" **I accepted this simply to be in a better position to possess you, Sawada Tsunayoshi."**

" _My point proved, Giotto. That tainted child will bring our family back; make it strong again! Nufufufufu!"_

" _ **He's lying."**_ And again we resonated in a way that I don't think Tsunayoshi fully understands. It was unnerving and powerful, but for a moment out Intuition overlapped and told us the same thing. Rokudo Mukuro was not such a cold and heartless man; he wasn't as much of a threat to Tsunayoshi as he liked to say he was.

I smiled, obvious enough that even Daemon's cruel smile dropped slightly in confusion when he saw my candidate relax in that hidden realisation.

"In any case, thank you." I saw Mukuro startled then, because my Tsunayoshi was wholeheartedly honest in his gratitude; even as Mukuro sighed and allowed himself the rest he deserved I saw my candidate flail in an attempt to catch the girl that replaced him.

The end of the confrontation had me smiling.

No, this boy, Mukuro, was not what my guardians' thought; what Daemon thought. This boy was Daemon's embodiment in Decimo's generation. He is cruel and he is tainted; but he holds Tsunayoshi's ideals and virtues. They are hidden behind cruel smirks and belief of having a tainted soul, but they are there and Tsunayoshi realises them. This child- for he is an unfortunate child- is Daemon's equivalent of Tsunayoshi's Vongola. His friends, subordinated, pawns –be what they may –they are precious to him and he will protect them; he holds a deep, infallible loyalty. Rokudo Mukuro just does not know how to express that.

" **Don't sympathise with him, remember what he did to you, Tsuna."**

Regardless of the damned Arcobaleno's words I saw Tsunayoshi flinch in disgust. He had already accepted Mukuro, and he would never accept his tutor's words, or the idea that everyone feared Mukuro.

Tsunayoshi would change that opinion soon.


	12. Cloud's Indignation

It was the decisive battle and I found my soul writhing and uncomfortable. It wasn't with a particularly easy move that I woke up to muted whispers and soothing words from what I can remember was Dino, my Tsunayoshi's Mafia brother.

It intrigued me really, because though my descendent didn't understand what it meant, Dino had signed himself over to Tsuna in some ways, and Tsuna had been signed over to him. Though not officially, it was a lot of work for the up-and-coming boss of Cavallone to take on a  _ward_  of sorts.

I was both pleased and  _unease_  by the matter, for Tsunayoshi did not understand the implication and decisions that were made for him  _again._  It was infuriating and it frustrated me to no end that his intuition had yet to mature to a state where he could both realise and have the backbone to act on the twinges when these things happened around him.

" _Now now, my friend. It is early, you have little need to get so worked up."_

" _Asari."_ I couldn't help the affection, this man was my rain.  _"What wakes you so early, then? I hope I didn't disturb you with my entrance?"_

It was true, I had used my Rain guardian's ring as medium today, it was easier for me to use than perhaps Knuckle, and though G would have been easier yet he was with the Varia and would remain so until the final battle.

" _Of course not, Ieyasu. I was awake anyway, for Takeshi was off early this morning."_

" _Along with the others it seems."_  I almost jumped when Knuckle appeared, smiling softly from beside his descendent; he placed a hand on Ryohei's and Takeshi's head before joining us.

" _It does seem like everyone was up early."_ Asari chuckled just as the whispering from Dino and my Heir grew louder.

" **You want to find out from me how Kyouya will fare tonight, right?"**

My heir looked so ashamed and bashful and Dino's eyes crinkled a little. It was nice to see the Boss looking after Tsuna so gently, it was nice to see that Tsuna's sky extended, because I know that the young blonde man, Dino, would be hardened without the little glimpse of innocence he lost upon his father's death.

My eyes flickered back to the children and I couldn't help but smile, they were very slowly becoming one. They fought and bickered, and they didn't sync up the way most guardians did. But they all came to ask Dino so assurance, they all knew he would be able to give them truth so that they could be prepared and could help their boss.

" **They dropped by to ask the same thing."**

And my Tsunayoshi appreciated it, his soft whisper made me smile with pride. He was a good boss. He wanted the best for his friends, even this Kyouya character that I had yet to meet but whom Alaude seemed to be very intrigued by.

" **Everyone….."**

It was amusing that the children had fallen asleep as soon as they received good news, but I knew it would have been different had Dino been less confident. They wouldn't have rested until Tsuna either knew from them, or they had checked the cloud for themselves. They would probably have never forgiven Kyouya had he been less than fit to fight. I could tell just from the whispers and the aura around my heir that Kyouya was their last hope.

" **Kyouya is perfectly finished. As his home tutor I am saying this without any favouritism, that boy is really strong."**

And that was all it needed, because Tsuna's hardened eyes melted back to that constantly burning will and chocolate. Those peaceful eyes and that peaceful voice were ones I wished never changed. Though I knew they would, if not by the time he fought, then certainly by the time he inherited my tainted family.

" **I'm glad to hear that."**

It amused me that, like his friends and guardian before him I could see my Decimo growing drowsy with relief. Another part of me was amused for another reason, his growing care for these people in his life, and fear for what would happen once these battles were done.

It was saddening and amusing, because what had my child been through to feel these kinds of things, and what future would he bring to what was once my Vongola?

I felt myself quiver and Asari next to me noticed too, though his smile and averted eyes spoke volumes of his own intrigue.

" **You have training to get to."**

I watched my heir and Dino shiver and whip around and I felt growing dread pool in Tsunayoshi's will.

" **You must perfect the Dying will zero point break by today."**

Both Asari and I spun around to glare at the Hitman tutor, both of us for our heirs' sakes growled at the tutor and his methods. Yes, he saved Asari's heir and was going to make sure mine survived, but that did not mean we appreciated his methods. These were children, and their lives were different.

But this time our anger was not long lived, instead we were curious, I could see it in Asari's face and felt it in my flame core.

They were teaching my heir my technique, one I had seen passed from boss to boss, but skipping so many generations.

My Zero Point Breakthrough, would my heir  _truly_  figure it out?

" **The battle today will decide it all! There's not point for me to train!"**

I thought myself over the urge to smack Decimo, but the boy could bounce between incredibly in tune with his intuition and too naive and it gave me whiplash of the direst sort. Could he not see every possibility of failure as well as triumph?

But I had no chance to think long on my chosen heir's words for I feel a rise in killer intent and worry from the Arcobaleno man.

" **Precisely because it's the final battle. What will you do if something happens?"**

I saw Tsuna start, and I felt his unease in tie with the flashes of intuition that scented the air. He was so close, so close to fully grasping his knowledge and his birthright and it made my core quiver, yet here he was, still so confused so stifled by everything and the speed at which it was happening.

" _Breathe easy, my friend."_ Asari assured, a hand on my shoulder as he pulled me from my thoughts.  _"Remember he is a child, and his life has made it so his Intuition has been forced away and further clogged. He will come into his own when he must."_

" _But he should now."_ I seethed _, "He needs to now and it's only these ignorant actions that leave my Heir's intuition stunted."_

" _Maa maa, that is something we as souls cannot change."_

" _I would if I could."_

" _And I wouldn't stop you."_ Asari agreed, but for now we must wait.

I saw Knuckle sigh as he faded away, the boys were waking and taking Tsunayoshi away, and though I could fade away myself, I wanted to stay with my heir longer. I wanted him close, being away from him and drenched in Xanxus' feral, lethal aura was sickening after a time.

So when Asari made move to fade, but saw me remain he smiled and we walked with my heir and his group.

I would feel it I knew. But regardless I was feeding off of Asari's ring; therefore there would be a dull throb of excretion this time.

" _How do you feel, Ieyasu?"_

" _What a broad question."_

" _Indeed, so it deserves a broad answer, my friend."_

How to reply? It had been a long while since a lull in these battles and I craved it. So it was so refreshing for me to just walk beside my guardian, mirroring the children laughing and dancing and joking in the streets, for even a moment.

" _I am tired, Ugetsu."_ I finally admitted _, "I'm sure you understand, but I am so tired for Tsunayoshi. My child doesn't deserve this; none of them do really. I am tired for him, of him, and of all this."_

Asari nodded, perhaps completely resonating with my feelings, before he continued.  _"It is tiresome. Especially when you have become so biased towards Tsunayoshi and his friends."_

I couldn't help but wince back, because the truth was, though I felt for Tsunayoshi's friends I did not perhaps feel biased towards them. They had caused my heir more than enough trouble already.

But.

I cast my eyes towards the children, Takeshi and Hayato were bickering on either side of my heir and though he was flailing I could see the relaxed angle of his shoulders and the softness in his eyes and voice.

They had caused him so much horror.

But.

They had given my boy a chance at a life he didn't have before. They gave him a reason to live and laugh and they helped him unlock his will and resolve.

So really I couldn't be angered at them.

" _The battles are almost done, Ieyatsu. You can rest again then."_  Asari must have read my mind as he usually could and I could only smile and clap him on the shoulder.

* * *

Suddenly a shock rattled through my soul and I was pulled away swiftly, my consciousness split not between ring fragments, but this time between my want to remain with my Heir in Japan while he went to training and my  _body_  in Xanxus' ring needing to show me flashes of immense importance.

Suddenly I was standing beside my cloud, whose hair seemed to be standing on end as his face turned feral.

" _Alaude?"_  I was shocked, this man was never so ruffled yet here he stood, snarling.

" _Giotto, the bastard is planning something. He has a trick up his sleeve and he is assured it will not fail him."_

" _A plan? How can you be sure?"_

" _Look at him!"_

" **Pfft. Are you excited Gola Mosca."**

That mocking tone in Xanxus' voice was cold and shivered through me, Alaude snapped to a fighting position with cuffs in his hands, he spun them with anxiety and it had my flames itching to the surface.

Alaude was rarely so nervous. Xanxus' next laughing roar had me jumping and roaring into my own flury of anxious dying will mode.

" **I'm looking forward to it."**

And then I was beside Asari again, panting and sweating, gripping my guardians' arm. His face was close to mine, and his mouth was moving but I couldn't hear. I never could after this kind of situation arose. It had only happened three times, for usually I did not bother with the heir of Vongola, it wasn't mine.

Tsunayoshi was changing all my norms.

" _-o! Can you hear me? What did you see? Why were you pulled back so suddenly?"_

" _Xanxus is up to something and Alaude is feral about the entire thing."_

Asari was silent as he helped me stand straight and get my breathing righted again.  _"He hasn't been furious with these battles since Secondo and Sesto."_

" _Exactly, it unnerves me greatly old friend."_

" _Well, all we can do is see how things will unfold."_  Asari looked towards Decimo, who was on the floor arguing about their training again. I could feel how far we were to the school, and the tension in the air had me terrified as to how Asari could materialise by my side even at the distance between his ring and my heir. But then I caught the scent of rain flames and saw the CEDEF heir fighting with Decimo.

It should frighten me that the emotions and flame saturation around us this time had us able to break all our usual boundaries. But instead I was grateful.

" **-bari-san's battle! It's starting soon!"**

" **Leave the battle to Gokudera and Yamamoto. All you have to do is concentrate on perfecting your technique."**

" **You can't be serious!"** And I felt the same sentiment, because surely the bastard tutor realised his student's  _need_  to be at these battles. To see and know for himself that he could protect his guardians, that they were alive and safe and fighting and knew what they were doing.

It was not needed for Alaude's boy as I understood, but it didn't matter for Tsuna.

" **I'm dead serious, Tsuna."**

" **Reborn….."** I couldn't help my own unease at the seriousness, but I could do naught for my heir.

Instead Asari and I faded away and appeared at the battle ground, watching as the guardians gathered; Knuckle and G appeared at my side as the ring holders of my Heir gathered together.

None of my friends really spoke, right now we listened, still judging and I could see G especially growing in unrest as his boy argued and overthought the possibility and extent of his duty.

I too saw flaws in the storm and could only hope that one day he would settle and become the eye my Decimo needed.

" **Why have you all gathered here?"** Kyouya appeared, dark and silent, he stalked the ground like a predator and had I been alive, in Decimo's position I don't know that I would have trusted him with my loyalty.

" **You're an eyesore, if you're not gone in the next second I'll kill you."**

Especially when he appeared to be so volatile that he's turn on his own comrades just because they didn't live up to his standards. Even Alaude, my most volatile and ruthless guardians besides Daemon –who was a different kind of monster in the end –would never truly threaten me and mine.

" _Now now, Giotto."_ The silky voice appeared before me, from the direction of Kyouya's entrance as I mused and I smiled a little, I had been read again by a predator _. "You have not spent time with this lamb. You have not seen his loyalty yet, do not be so rash."_

" _You call the boy a lamb?"_ Knuckle faltered a little, and G looked disgusted.

" _The lad looks about right to slaughter his own team mates. How can that be defined as a lamb; he can't even be called a lone wolf with that attitude."_

" **So….that's the one."**

" _Ah, that bloodlust."_  Asari was shifting uncomfortably as our gazes turned to the boy. It was like he was alive only for the kill. What moments ago were tormenting, threatening grins had suddenly shifted to feral delight on the child's face, and it unnerved me.

The cloud was a hard role to fill, more so than the mist or even the lightning, and though this child seemed to literally personify the clouds of his position's name sake I couldn't help but quiver.

Where did his loyalties lie if my Decimo could not prove strong enough to leash his cloud?

" _Giotto."_  Alaude's voice held reprimand and I whirled around to see a grin stretching his lips.  _"My boy is the strongest of this set of children, and he will protect them. Don't doubt loyalties you have yet to see, or I'll have no choice but to arrest you."_

I saw the visible shiver through my gathered guardians, they saw that lust for a fight in Alaude's eyes, and they saw the want to train and guide and mold the boy who was inheriting his position

It was unnerving, to say the least, that Alaude approved so strongly. He and his CEDEF once upon a time were so strict. If this boy fit his criteria for inheritance than I pray for Tsunayoshi's safety and future.

But I couldn't help but gaze at the boy and shiver.

" **All I have to do is bite you to death."**

He was so similar to my cloud, yet I never had a doubt about his loyalty to me.

* * *

The Cervello were a strange sort, and I couldn't help but be wary when my flame core, the stem of my intuition, began to buck and shift in unease while they explained how the monstrosity of a battle ground fit the sky ring. These women were oddities, and though I know they were hired by Nono to oversee the battles and ensure utter fairness I couldn't help but feel uneasy.

They were new, no famiglia ever looked like them in my time, but I had seen many families fall to them –by order of Vongola but none the less fall to them –during my time within the ring.

I didn't want them near my boy or his guardians at all.

I wanted them gone.

" **The mission of the cloud guardian is to be aloof, drifting but protecting the family from an independent standpoint, one whom nothing can bind."**

" _You know, I've never quite agreed with that description, Ieyasu."_

" _Neither have I. It's the ultimate misinterpretation."_

I could only laugh, because they were right and wrong. The clouds were supposed to stay separated from the sky, they were supposed to be untameable, unbiased, unaffected by inner turmoil of the famiglia.

But, I haven't seen or met a single cloud that wasn't completely tied to their sky in one way or another. Alaude was no different; Nono's guardian was no different. I could only assume that one day; Tsunayoshi's cloud would be no different.

" **If you're scared, run away. Just like your boss did."**

If the goad was meant to frustrate then it worked, I watched the shift in my heir's guardians as they bristled at the taunt.

" **Up yours. He didn't run away you asshole!"**

" _Can the brat not keep his tongue under wraps?"_ G sighed, rubbing his face and lighting another cigarette. I could see his urge to smack the boy coming to the surface again.

" _He's much like you, G."_  Asari chuckled,  _"Is it any surprise that he cannot hold his tongue when his boss is being mocked?"_

" _At least my boss is worth protecting from such jibes, che."_

" _G!"_  I tried to reprimand; I knew I should have been unbiased. But I knew by the time the lightning battle had been and gone that Tsuna was my heir, and I wasn't one to hide such decisions and feelings for long.

" **It's just there's no need for Tsuna to be here. Because Hibari is our ace. He won't lose."**

I started, I know this for a fact, because I remember my guardians pausing in their soft conversation to call my name, and I remember Alaude grinning in his hidden way.

I never doubted Alaude's loyalty to me and Vongola despite his duty to be the  _cloud_. But, by the words Asari's rain just spoke, with utter conviction and a relieved smile, perhaps Tsunayoshi has never doubted his cloud's loyalties either, and the other elements certainly don't either.

" **Ace…Bwahahahah. I'm definitely looking forward to this."**

" _How foul." G muttered as he watched the man laugh about the slaughter of teens._

As everyone shifted with terror and disgust my chest suddenly constricted and I felt my flame core writhe like they had only done once before, I looked around, surprised to see nothing changing, no burning of sky flames that would signal Tsunayoshi's approach.

I closed my eyes, ignoring the surprise in my guardians, and the chatter of an impending battle.

I allowed my soul to fade out and latch onto my chosen heir. I would be in agony for a long while after this, for none of my guardians or rings were near Tsunayoshi.

But I needed to see what he was doing, why my flames called out so.

When I appeared I was shocked, my eyes widened as I took in Tsunayoshi's form, covered in grit and dirt and scorched and weak.

But his eyes, I could see his confidence there suddenly.

" **Some-Somehow, just a little bit…I had a feeling like I know….what the first did with this technique."**

And he didn't stop, my heir didn't back out when his tutor gave him the option. My heir worried for his guardian, for his future, for the fate of not his life but the life of his friends…

" **If it comes to that…."**

He stood instead, he stood and swallowed his pills and I saw the resolve there, I felt his intuition swell in a way it hadn't before. He was so close to breaking the seal which had been placed on him too young.

But he wasn't close either. He had the feeling of my technique I could see that and it was astounding because he was so young and hadn't been training for a week yet.

But he needed more.

" _I will help you, Tsunayoshi. Because your resolve…I have waited for it."_  And I did the unthinkable, something I swore to myself on my ring and my guardians' souls I wouldn't to. I placed my resolve against Tsunayoshi's, I fed my will into him, I touched my hand to his head and hoped it was enough to give him the insight he needed to learn my technique in time.

Because even as I faded back to the battle, the strain making my knees weak and my flame flicker, I knew that something was going to happen with the cloud battle that would push my child to the brink, even with my help.

* * *

" **If boss were here, that's what he'd have done!"**

As the nausea from both forcing my will and separating myself from the ring core settled I smiled down at the storm child. He was trying, and I find myself much less frustrated by these attempts to bring the guardians together than before.

" _Seems the storm child has at least learnt that from his boss."_

Apparently G was less frustrated too.

" _Yare yare, it took him long enough."_

" _Che, like you can talk, brat."_

Lampo appeared after a while, though as he skirted around us I saw his unease, and I wasn't surprised as he faded in and out of our view. I knew he missed both Decimo and his own guardian candidate. Lampo missed the innocence of his boy and the sheer acceptance of Tsunayoshi's sky even if my candidate sometimes don't completely fulfil that role for his lightning he would in time, and while it didn't worry me at the time it should have.

Though, I suppose it had more to do with the face that I was so sure my boy would win the entire ordeal that I put the other's acceptances out of my mind; they'd all have to accept eventually anyway.

I could feel the tension in the air and I wanted to bounce on my feet as Kyouya stepped into the disgusting ring. I was looking forward to this battle most. Because everyone was sure it would go well.

So I couldn't fathom what was happening in front of us –and I could see that none of my guardians or any of Decimo or Xanxus' did rather.

It was fast and furious and I barely had a chance to regain my bearings before the cloud guardian was both downed and walked away. Kyouya stood, clicking his ring together and frowning just noticeable in both disappointment and curiosity, as if he's never heard the shriek when he downed such an opponent before.

Alaude snorted at our expressions, amused by our incredulity as if we should have known that an heir  _he_  chose should at least meet this requirement.

Though his face didn't relax as his blue eyes watched the mound of smoking metal, he was uneasy and that made me nervous.

Kyouya was Tsunayoshi's ace, his power was indescribable and I could feel his blood thirst from my position in the air. It surprised me that Alaude hadn't been affected yet, but perhaps that's the curiosity of clouds; when they find kin they are neither affected nor do they effect each other.

But it wasn't over, and I should have known.

" **Until I bite you to death, monkey boss of the mountain of monkeys, I can't go home."**

" _The child's an idiot though, such a kit if he has yet to stifle that will to fight."_ Alaude sounded, not so much disappointed as reprimanding, as if his child had not quite learnt patience yet but he was still fond of him.

It was a little unnerving because I could only imagine the terror this child would cause if he were raised by my vicious cloud.

What I didn't expect was Xanxus, so cool and volatile to suddenly be on his feet, a crazy grin spreading across his face as he attacked Tsunayoshi's cloud with reckless abandon. Crazed by a good fight, yet controlled as if he expected nothing less than this.

The Varia didn't look like they expected it either.

" **We have lost."**

Kyouya sneered; I could see his mind whirring, eyes flickering to the Varia and their boss. I could see him trying to work out who was telling the truth, what the plan of action was.

" **You're face tells a different story."**

And it did, Xanxus did not look like a beaten man. He looked like a man on fire, a man with a mission. He looked possessed, but completely assured. He didn't look like a man losing at all.

" **We've already lost the battle. If we get into the fight it'll be seen as mutiny against the incumbent 10** **th** **boss. They'll have our heads, along with boss'."**

" _If that boy keeps fighting he'll forfeit the ring he just won."_ Asari worried, hand on his swords and fingers tapping a nervous rhythm.

" _He's an animal, but he's won. He's just trying to get rid of his tension with a worthwhile fight."_

" _But Xanxus is Tsunayoshi's prey."_ I tried to argue.

" _Your boy is not here, and my boy has had his pride hit with such a useless fight."_  Alaude spoke smoothly, as if he were commenting on the dirt under his nails. It was frustrating; Alaude smirked when he heard my frustrated growl.

Knuckle and G had been quiet during the exchange, and when I turned to them I couldn't help but shiver.  _"G, Lampo, Knuckle, what has you so concerned?"_

" _The boss is too assured. His….guardian is downed and he risks seeming rogue if he continues to fight against the cloud boy."_ G started.

" _Yet he looks like things are ultimately coming together."_ Knuckle hummed _, "I don't like it. Especially when Xanxus' boys don't seem to understand what is happening either."_

" _He's giving me the creeps, Giotto. It's like he never intended to play fair."_

" _And you'd know all about that, eh, Lampo?"_ G scoffed, but I could hear the agreement in his tone.

" _Shut up, old man. Giotto, something's going to go wrong."_

Even before Lampo had let the last word roll off his tongue Kyouya was down, with blood pouring out of his leg explosions and fire met our eyes. My guardians were shouting at their heirs, egging them into moving, but they were too busy scrambling to even try to listen to our silent voices.

It was then that things started clicking into place. Xanxus wanted the looming machine to go berserk. He had planned something all along. He wanted my children gathered to destroy them. He wanted this to happen.

But it was happening too quickly, Xanxus was cackling, my guardians were growling and flailing and worried. Had it been a less dangerous situation I would have been smug.

Because my guardians, though they hid it well, really cared for and-

My eyes snapped to Chrome, the child whose fight was eye opening and concerning as she tripped and avoided the gaze of the berserk Mosca. But she could not. In the confusion and terror the two boys who stayed close were protecting her, even with their scowls and shouts of useless embarrassment, they covered her even as the Mosca fired.

Things don't slow down like they say things do during these situations.

In fact my Hyper intuition sped them up in my head, shooting fire into my body as if I could save these children.

But then it settled suddenly, purring happily in my head as fire approached from behind and I knew, in a moment, that though the danger hadn't passed and though my fear from earlier hadn't passed things at least now would settle.

My intuition was happy and lulled me forcibly. But now it told me to rest, because things would fall into place.

" **That flame."**

No one could deny the beauty of the flame, it was so pure and strong, though it didn't compare to my own yet.

" **Boss."**

And I could feel the relief suddenly, from the girl and the other guardians dotted around the ruined school. I could see their smiles, their sighs, and I could feel the tension of flames yet to ignite suddenly drop.

It made me shiver to see such faith in Tsunayoshi.

" _Wao…their faith is stunning. But they relax too quickly in a hostile situation."_

" _Can't you give them, even one break?"_ I sighed.

" _Not when our famiglia is at risk, Giotto."_  And unfortunately I couldn't help but agree with G. Because faith or not anything could happen and right now, the guardians couldn't save their boss if he were to suddenly go down.

Xanxus and Tsunayoshi were exchanging words, and I could see their flame cores pulse and touch. Neither boy knew what it meant; Xanxus was too blinded by his rage to see it and Tsunayoshi too young and untrained. But they touched, skies testing skies, and I know from experience that Xanxus' sky could not compare.

And that in part, is why I think he wants Tsunayoshi destroyed. He doesn't want to believe his work and his power and his efforts don't match up to one with Vongola blood coursing through Tsuna's veins.

He didn't want to be inferior. But only by not believing so did he become so. Vongola blood…my blood…was nothing to be proud of. My blood did not make a man any better than another. Those mafia men put me and my kin on a pedestal because they did not understand our abilities. They put My Blood on a stand and it did not wipe out the truly pathetic men out there with my blood.

" **He can fly?!"**  I forget that this is the first time his guardians had been able to see their boss fight. It's both a blessing and a curse in a way, because though they had been faithful and trusting of their boss' ability and sure of his success, they also could not plan for contingencies.

Hopefully that faith wouldn't change now, and they wouldn't overestimate the explosion of strength they were watching now.

It was explosive and quick like Kyouya's but in a surreal kind of way. Tsunayoshi dodged and whipped, but I knew this.

Instead I turned to my guardians and watched them, finally seeing what I've been seeing, watching their minds turning over the possibility and light with hope.

I can't help but feel smug.

I  _knew_  Tsunayoshi was powerful.

I  _knew_  he would make it.

And he did, because ripping limbs from the machine before making sure it would never move again. I watch it's parts fizzle I watched the halves fall.

I knew things would work out, and to see everyone else realise that too was  _wonderful_. Until I heard the screeching, bubbling of metal and heard the shock ringing through the arena, the guardians, and even the all mighty Reborn.

" **Eh…..it's the ninth boss!"**

The horror in my heir's voice, the way he seemed to crumble and the sudden expulsion of HDW had me whipping around, eyes wide before they narrowed and I snarled at the man still laughing on the edge of the arena.

And then I heard Xanxus, and I knew my eyes burned in a feral way, Alaude snarled beside me and I watched as my other three guardians grew pale.

" **You've gone and killed the 9** **th** **boss."**

He  _planned_  this. He  _ **planned**_  to have his father put in harm's way, to have my heir framed, to break my boy and the faith people had in him from the inside out.

" **E-Eh…I…I did…this?"**

" _No!"_  I couldn't help it. My Tsunayoshi believed this poor man's claims. This all-encompassing sky was believing the lies. This sky, my heir apparent was believing it his fault, taking the hurt of the family and accepting it.

" _I won't allow you to threaten my child!"_

" _Ieyatsu!"_

" _Giotto!"_

I heard them, I heard my guardians' calls, trying to appease me, but I would bet anything that my flames burned red like rage currently.

" **Who is it that struck the old man down with no mercy whatsoever?"**

" **Who split the mosca in half with the old man inside?"**

I could see Tsunayoshi, I could see the panic rise; I felt his will against the fragments of mine that I had given him. I could see the sweat on his face and the way his chest began to heave as air choked at him.

I could see my boy's mind killing itself in panic at the mere  _idea_  of hurting this old man.

_**He believed it!** _

" **I….I killed the ninth."**

Then, by all the stars, Nono wakes, he is bleeding and I can feel the strain in his flames. I grow to know my bearers through the years, and Nono's was one of the longest reigns I has seen beside my own. He was weak and he was tired.

But he too cared for my boy and he would not allow Tsunayoshi to hurt himself like this.

" **No….the one at fault was me…"**

" _What did Nono do? Alaude, do you know?"_ Asari spun on the blonde man but he only frowned with cold eyes.

" _I never heard a thing. I didn't even know the fool was_ in _the monstrosity. If I were alive Xanxus wouldn't get out of this_ _ **alive**_ _."_

" **We finally get to meet….young Tsunayoshi."**

And how sad was it, the situation Vongola was in, that the ninth had to settle with giving a child he hadn't met –or perhaps had met before his true character could become known –the key to Vongola and its future.

What a mess my descendants had made of my family for this to happen.

" **I'm sorry…all of this happened because of my own weakness…my weakness that allowed Xanxus to wake from his long sleep."**

I couldn't even bring myself to listen as Reborn spun a tale of Nono's weakness and Xanxus' past. Because I couldn't bring myself to forgive the man even if his rage was caused by his father. Xanxus wasn't in the right, this could never truly be made  _right_  but Nono had lost my favour many years ago.

" _Xanxus was asleep?"_ G muttered, _"Nono put his own son into a coma because he couldn't handle him?"_

" **Tsunayoshi….I've always been hearing news about you …from Reborn…about the girl you like and…about your school…and your friends…you are a child with a heart that…is really mismatched for a mafia boss."**

Nono had a good heart, one the closest to my own but still so far from my chosen heir that it made me angry that he dare compare himself to Tsunayoshi.

It made me furious that he would dare call my boy unsuitable for the position of my throne.

" **I also know that up until now, you never once fought a battle willingly. You always have these lines between your eyebrows…fists clenched as if praying."**

Especially when he  _knew_  that my boy was unsuited. Nono knew Tsunayoshi cried at these battles, that he fought against them, that he was plagued by guilt and fury and terror for his friends.

Yet still he sent my boy into the fray.

" _When did we fall, Giotto?"_

" _Where did our famiglia go, Ieyatsu?"_

" _When did you let us become so dark, these are ultimately children and your ninth is letting a child take his place."_

" _I thought you said you wouldn't let this happen?"_

" _It seems both my CEDEF and your family have fallen, Giotto."_

And I snapped, I snapped and I seethed and I roared.

" **And all that is why I chose you to be the 10** **th** **boss of the Vongola."**

" _I became dark when I put my ideals behind me, when I gave up all to protect my family. We became dark when we toyed with the mafia and thought we could win! I became dark when I let these monsters twist_ _ **my famiglia**_ _to the point that they let a boy take my throne!"_

I was heaving and my flames were flickering so erratically I felt like I would freeze myself. I could feel my chest constrict as my friends stared.

I wanted to spit at them. They should have seen it, seen just how torn I was by this.

I want to believe in Tsunayoshi, the boy looks more like my son than any of my own blood. I want to believe in  _my famiglia._

But he is a boy, a child of a different era, an innocent with naivety bleeding from his soul. How can I believe that anything will come of his reign?

How can I want for his tainting? For that is all that will come out of this if he tries to bring back my Vongola.

I watch detached as Nono lights a flame and presses it to Tsunayoshi's head, I feel the click as the seals and restraints on his dying will were released. Nono put those bonds on Tsunayoshi and I feel almost disgusted, as if Nono believes this will forgive him for putting them on the child in the first place and for thinking he could impose this life on a mafia-less child.

With the flame of official inheritance lit my mind is pulled into Tsuna's memory and I can see the moment Nono decided that Tsuna has a chance. He was sitting in the humble house with Tsuna in his lap and warmth of kin-like flames around him.

Vongola's situation or not, Nono had chosen Tsuna for all the right reasons.

Despite this….

" _I still cannot forgive him for doing this to my child."_

And not one of my guardians argued with me as they watched the interactions.

" **How dare you kill the 9** **th** **boss!"**

But there is one who I wish to harm more.

" **I will kill you as Vengeance."**

" _Does he think that the Vongola are so foolish?"_ I could see G's patience wavering, I could see him itching to fight.

How quickly we've forgotten, we have no physical bodies left.

" _That man deserves to be arrested and not allowed to see the light of day again. He not only threatens minors but our famiglia with his sly and cowardly acts."_

" _Yare yare, I've never liked bullies."_

" _May god forgive where men cannot."_

Though I grinned, happy to see my friends agreeing again, I couldn't help but take a moment to really listen. This, I believe, was the first time my guardians had actually agreed, had actually united as one in their believe of Xanxus' unsuitability for Decimo position.

No, they had not accepted my heir yet. No they hadn't seen Tsunayoshi as Decimo or seen why I saw him fit.

But they saw Xanxus as unfit.

And that was a step I was sure we would never reach. Not together.

" **I've lost my patience."**  And seeing everyone flinch back was more satisfying than I will admit.

" _Fucking finally,"_  though G didn't feel those sentiments.

" **But….I will honour my promise to the ninth and will not interfere with my student's battles."**

And I could feel it, all eyes turned to my heir as he stood with legs no longer shaking, no longer worried. No, I felt his core resonate with mine; I felt his flame call to mine.

If there were doubt before, it is gone now. He is of my blood and brood. And a strong thrum rumbles in my chest, one that has me wishing I was alive and could wrap him in my famiglia values.

It had been jittering because Tsuna had finally felt the strings in a boss' chest that had him instinctively protecting him and his.

" **Xanxus…I will take that ring back. You will** _ **not**_ **succeed the ninth."**

" _Looks like things are ULTIMATELY getting exciting."_

" _The children are coming into their own."_

" _Fucking finally…." And then there was silence and a laugh._

" _I haven't seen you looking so good in a while, Primo."_

And I could only grin, because finally, finally I was about to see something my flame core had been waiting for. My actual heir was making his stand.

Despite the hurt I had subjected myself to before, despite the sting the truth that my family would  _never_  be itself again left on my tongue I couldn't help it.

I couldn't help but  _hope_  as I watched Tsuna stare down Xanxus with eyes void of dying will –therefore completely strangled by his fears and inhibitions- because despite everything they held a fire so furious and resolved that I could see the future in them.


	13. Will of a Family, Pride of a Leader.

Watching the progress of children was really something I cherished. More than my guardians knew. They had the understanding that their sky was theirs, that he was brilliant.

It made me smile to see such trust, and such inherent bonds.

" **Our boss' will is our will."**

And while Ryohei, Hayato, Chrome and Takeshi knew their wills well and openly…

" **My will is my own."** Kyouya was just a special snowflake.

Xanxus was not an exceptionally cruel man. He did not protect beyond expectation. He expected perfection. He did not cull children in his streets and he did not prostitute those same children or his own men. Xanxus just expected and was Varia Quality embodied in a man. His own men were the same, and if someone didn't meet those standards, they were culled before they could bring down the rest.

" **Exterminate the traitors."**  That wasn't to say that his brand of expectation wasn't cruel compared to anyone else, of course.

The Varia themselves were a blood thirsty sort. Bel was especially so, and I could see G flinch and go green beside me as the boy-child taunted Tsuna and his company. It was especially disturbing given the small age gap between Bel and my heirs.

" _I don't like those women."_ Asari explained as his hands gripped his swords.

" **Hold it right there, please. We will be in charge of the battle for the 9** **th** **boss' revenge."**  As they spoke, I couldn't help but agree.

The Cervello had always twisted my gut. I had watched them destroy famiglia over famiglia. When they laid their claws into Vongola, I knew my family was doomed. Though, given the reactions of my heirs, and their Tutor, I supposed perhaps there was a chance that the Cervello would be banished.

" **We have a duty to oversee the whereabouts of the Vongola rings."**

" **What the hell are you guys talking about? You're all Xanxus' bitches!"**  G's boy, as brash and obtuse as he was, had it on the spot. Those girls saw potential in Xanxus, saw the type of leader that they would want. Xanxus would keep them around, so long as they were useful to him. He had played on their 'neutrality' thus far, and it had made their impartialness tainted.

" **You've got some nerve. You forced the 9** **th** **boss to give you that dying-will flame seal against his will."** While I didn't trust the Basil boy, he wasn't wrong.

My boy could feel it, and Basil could feel it. I hoped Reborn could too, given his status. The 9th's flames had long since begun to weaken, but the ones that flickered on this letter of permission were tired, strained. The man didn't make the decision to seal the letter happily, that was for sure.

" **The winner of this battle will become the next Vongola boss, so we declare this the sky ring battle. This will be the last of seven battles. How does that sound?"**

" **Not bad."**

" _Of course that bastard thinks it's alright. He hasn't lifted a finger. Your boy has been training since day one."_ Lampo snarled. He was ferocious when he accepted his bias.

" **Tomorrow night, everyone assemble."**

With that, the Cervello left. For judges, they were not careful. Xanxus could have slaughtered Tsunayoshi, or even the Cervello themselves, when their backs were turned. It was a brilliant show of their lack of care towards Xanxus' actions.

" _Those boys want to fight."_ Knuckle whispered under his breath, his eyes cast to the guardians that stood around my boy.

" _Hn, let them. Maybe we can end this farce now."_

" _Ah, that won't happen. The battle is tomorrow. My boy is tired."_  And just as I spoke, the tutor –whom I loved no more or less than before– spoke up to the boys. He quelled their fury a little, reminding them that their sky needed rest now, and not a battle.

" **Tsuna is exhausted from training. This is a great luck to us."**

Xanxus was especially amused by this. He saw weakness in exhaustion. He saw weakness in emotion. He knew Tsuna was warring inside. The fact that he took joke in my boy made my gut burn. I wanted to put that child over my knee, or else into a wall.

He didn't deserve Vongola. He barely deserved the Varia with the way he was treating his family.

" **Pfft. Tomorrow will be the final chapter in this happy comedy. Make sure you're up for it."**

I was aware of Xanxus' flames disappearing from half of my being, and before I could really react, Tsuna had me in his hands again.

* * *

I loved to watch children grow, to watch them become the protected to the protector. I loved to watch my boy grow, and though I had seen him make leaps, fall, but get up again through my guardians, nothing prepared me for when he caught the ring.

Nothing could prepare me for the sheer onslaught of emotions. The fury burning there threatened to call Secondo to the ring, but the sheer  _YouAreMineIAmHereIWillProtect_ thatstarted to form in the gut of his flames called to me. My flames bucked and roared and purred.

I felt lightheaded. I felt my knees give way.

But I did not pass out.

I watched on from beside him, feeling my flame in his gut. Whatever push I had managed to give him, he had taken. He had taken it into himself so strongly, and he had made it his own. Something was going to happen, something big.

I ignored the mass movement around us. Tsunayoshi seemed to ignore it too. His eyes were cast to the skyline where Xanxus and his Guardians had disappeared over.

Nothing could have prepared me for the sheer growth in this boy, in my child.

When I had left him, I had seen potential. I had felt the buck of flames just barely released. I had felt a resolve to  _survive_  and had known that this boy would be my heir. This boy would let me rest between trials. Now though, now he was on the cusp of being a different boy entirely.

He wasn't there yet. He had a lot of growing to do. He still didn't know that he had a possessive streak –as a sky and as himself. He didn't know himself yet. He still didn't want this power in his hands. Part of me hoped he never would. Despite this though, despite it all, there was a leader starting to charge out of Tsuna's flames.

My boy was just so much better than I could have imagined. I had felt his flames before. I had felt them through my Guardians and their boys, because they were affected by their sky, but this, feeling it, feeling my own flames dragged to the surface by it…that was different.

I had hoped my boy had grown while I was away from him, but I couldn't have wished for this.

Even his own guardians had noticed apparently.

" **Che, the damage is extensive."**  Reborn seemed perturbed by the situation, barely reigning in his rage.

Alaude's boy, on the other hand, wasn't hiding his grin or his killing intent.  **"If this situation can draw out that herbivore's true strength, I won't interfere."**

I could see why he was so excited, of course. My Guardians could see it too. Tsuna was still turned away, eyes downcast, and we could feel, through our rings, even if the young guardians couldn't, the way Tsuna's will bucked.

Even I, standing beside the boy with the ring back on his hand, couldn't truly handle it. My own flames burst into life.

It was thrilling.

It worried me.

My boy couldn't handle such conflicting wills right now. He couldn't, mentally or physically.

That teacher, though I loathed his ways, seemed to realise it as soon as I did because, quickly enough, he kicked my child in the head and pushed him along with a quick.  **"We're going home."**  I saw the flash of panic though. I saw the fear that the boy would crumble under the weight of his own will.

Tsunayoshi was my child, but Reborn was beginning to see him in the same way. It disturbed me –I didn't want that Hitman anywhere near my boy– but it also meant that Reborn would protect him.

* * *

That evening, my guardians and I met. We remained silent for the longest time. It was unnerving how close we were to the end, yet how far we still had to go.

Because, if Xanxus won, it meant that our children had either died or would be killed.

It would mean another age of waiting for an heir to appear and save our famiglia.

But, if Tsunayoshi and his family won, it meant another set of innocents would be drowned in blood.

If our boys won, it would mean our rest for their suffering.

" _I didn't know that battles could be dragged on for so long."_ Knuckle was tired. I could read it in his eyes.

All my guardians were tired. I realised I had neglected them in my own thoughts. I had been too preoccupied by these inevitable battles to realise the weight on their shoulders. They had to watch these children grow too.

" _It'll be nice when all this is all over. I've had enough of watching children try to be men."_ G growled as he lit a cigarette. He was the most affected, I think.

" _At least they are growing."_  Asari explained with a sigh, hand on his swords.  _"When these battles are over, they will be able to rest again."_

Alaude was silent for a moment longer, eyes clouded.  _"They will need time to rest. The growth pains will show soon. They are stressing their bodies too far, mentally and physically."_

Lambo remained silent, though he flinched back when Alaude explained this. He would understand out of us all the sudden growth pains of a guardian. There was a haunted look in his eyes. He knew of things we did not. His family and line were blessed with feelings of future. Where I could see immediate things with my intuition, Lampo and his line could see much further. He saw something was coming, and it worried me.

But I had no time to ask, or to pull him aside and make sure my youngest Guardian was alright with all this. After all, he had grown attached to his little lightning heir.

* * *

The battle loomed. It was dark around the guardians, but there was this powerful hope that threatened to crush the air.

Basil was accompanying my boy's guardians while Tsunayoshi hung back with Reborn. He was given new clothing before the fight. I could feel his will. I could feel it in my gut. But I needed a break from the sheer indulgence of Tsuna's fighting instincts. Instead, I allowed myself to watch his guardians.

My boy had grown, and now I could be assured that he would not be culled, and would fight instead. It let me see his guardians in a new light. They were arguing with the Basil boy.

I couldn't help but feel proud.

" **What? Tsuna's going to win, you know?"**  Takeshi sounded like he was laughing, but those eyes were cold and dangerous. It was as if he took personal offence to my boy being insulted.

" **Of course he is!"**  I knew that G's boy took personal offense, but it was nice to see him less puppy-sure and more self-sure about my boy. Being confident for no reason would just bring more trouble than progress. How did I know it was more self-confidence in my boy? Well, he was serious, not flippant.  **"Listen newcomer. The 10** **th** **boss is a person so great he has surpassed greatness. Only those who understand him will get it."**

Asari's child was quick to follow, laughing the entire time, but with a seriousness that unnerved me in a fourteen year old of this time.  **"Tsuna's not really that difficult to understand, is he? I'm not sure what it is about his greatness…well, it's like it's so obvious that it's easy to miss?"**

I knew this trust to be true and not the unfounded biased ramblings of best friends when Knuckle's young one piped up for the first time in a while. He may be seen as an idiot to the masses, but I knew he was a great machine. He was constantly buzzing and observing. It was sometimes easiest to get away with things when you were underestimated, after all.  **"Well, in the beginning, I couldn't tell if Sawada was great. But that's because his ordinariness is simply not ordinary!"**

" _They….know my boy well."_ I heard myself whisper without my express permission.

A hand clapped my shoulder and I was quickly looking into the amused eyes of my three guardians.

" _They do, I suspect they always have."_ Knuckles laughter was freeing, relieving in a way I hadn't known.

It had been too long since I can recall his laughter. To hear it now before our boys were to be killed was relaxing and unnerving.

" _I believe they know him better than himself."_  Asari breathed in relief, eyes sparkling.  _"It's hard to see your own qualities, after all."_

It was the truest thing that anyone could have said. In my earlier years, I had struggled with seeing myself as anything but worthless gutter fodder. It was difficult to overcome, but when people you love and cherish tell you the opposite at every waking moment, you begin to believe it. Once you believed it, well you couldn't help but actually become it.

Tsunayoshi would do the same eventually, especially as the trust between him and his guardians grew and they all became more vocal about their insecurities and praise.

I truly looked forward to that day. But we had to get over this one first.

* * *

Ring battles were always brutal affairs. The Cervello were worse. Their neutrality unnerved me and my guardians. Most of all, their cruelty was disgusting.

A few of the guardians were dragged from hospital beds and into this fight. Guardians that had served their time were being dragged into this.

I could feel true fury, suddenly, as my boy's ring was taken, along with his guardians'. I could feel fury bubble in his gut. Fear and fury were not a good mix, especially in the volatile mass of sky. But Tsuna was biting it down.

" **The rings and guardians lives are at stake."**

Even as the guardians were poisoned and fell, even as Xanxus laughed, even as the Cervello demanded of my boy what no other could, he was holding down his fury. He was trying to remember all his lessons.

But his fear brought tears to his eyes. He could see them on the screen, he could see the pain inflicted, and watched his friends fall to the ground.

I could see his thoughts, all of them self-sacrificing.

" _What despicable creatures. I pray that god will save_ all _these children."_

" _Che, surely the rules have been breached."_  Though Alaude seemed more impatient than worried.

" _Yare, this is poor sportsmanship."_

Tsuna's will was roaring. I could almost see it. He was so close to bringing flames to the surface without help. I wished he could, it would make his life so much easier. But he limited himself with his thoughts. He still didn't want this power. He still didn't think he needed it.

He relied on his tutor for good reason, but his tutor limited his student. He limited him with the destructive words and nickname.

" **Tsuna, Xanxus is not an opponent you can fight half-heartedly. If you're thinking about saving your 6 guardians first, you're going to lose your life. First-"**  As much as I hated Reborn for putting my son down –for making him think less of himself for every good thought he had–without him I didn't know if Tsuna would have realised the need to end Xanxus before he saved.

" **I know."** my sky admitted, though very reluctantly if his gritted teeth and panicked pupils were anything to go by.  **"I have to end Xanxus first."**

Would Tsuna really go after Xanxus himself, without Reborn's push?

" _Let's hope this ends soon."_  Lambo whispered, sticking close to me.  _"I don't like see this kind of fight."_

" _Che, none of us do, boy."_  G spat, another cigarette in his mouth. He still laid a reassuring hand on Lampo's shoulder though.

* * *

It would be an insult to the Varia to imagine Tsuna as equal.

The Varia for all their cruelty, all their violence and destruction, they had worked hard for their position. Xanxus especially had to crawl from the bottom, from the belly-crawler he had been as a child to be where he was now. He needed to be strong. He needed to be solid in his conviction.

" _Such cruelty in a man who is still really a child."_  Lambo suddenly seemed sombre, and it was at times like these that it was impossible to forget that he was but trapped in the body of his teenage self. He lived a ripe age.

And it was terrifying to see this man, barely in his twenties, so blood thirsty and so set to slaughter for his ways. He wanted to be Vongola Decimo. His pride was so fucking set that he would slaughter children for it.

I was almost certain that if he had just pulled my boy up by the scruff and asked, he would get the rings. Being that merciful, letting my child and his own go without a fight would make him a better leader.

But this man.

" **I don't care about my subordinates. This is what the sky is all about."**

One who could batter a fourteen year old child, one who laughed at his guardians dying around him, one who was so proud of his accomplishments as he climbed a mountain of bodies out of lust rather than necessity, this kind of man was not the kind I could get behind.

However, I couldn't argue either. Xanxus was awesome, in a horrible way. He was strong. He was determined. He had his guns developed to aide his fight. He had his men trained to aide his cause.

All skies were different. I did not like conflict, and Xanxus thrived on it. Of my decedents, most preferred a hierarchy like Xanxus –to different degrees– and some liked to have a family, as Ottavo did. Some skies were goofy and leaned on their guardians, were leaders in name only, and needed a family to make them work. Some skies tricked and deceived, brought elements in with trust only to twist and torment them, and betray them in the end. Skies were a dangerous sort. They were harmony in body. Some skies need all their elements, and some needed few. Some were dark and some were intimate. Some harmonized to such an extent that they turned their bonds to stone.

Skies were all sorts of crazy. I had seen many. I had seen skies like my boy. My boy was the most dangerous sort, or he would be. He would need a careful hand. I could see it.

My guardians could see it. He had a fury in his gut, an abused soul, and a sudden realisation of just how precious his elements were.

I could see the furious glare when he realised that he had to beat Xanxus down to save what was becoming his.

" _That boy of yours is going to be more dangerous than you are, Giotto."_ Alaude huffed from beside me, but there was pride in his eyes. He was proud of my boy, apparently.

It made me worry for my Tsunayoshi's sanity.

Alaude was buzzing. I could almost feel him bouncing beside me. He had every right to, of course.

Kyouya was insane. I have never feared a child, even those who had come to assassinate me. But Kyouya was another story. He was a wildfire without control. He was the destruction that needed to scorch the land to let new life grow, but that didn't make the destruction any less terrifying. Yes, burnt lands let fields thrive, but this man-child would destroy these guardians himself. I could only hope that he would bring growth and not annihilation.

Thankfully, so far, there had been growth.

" **With clouds come the storm, and storm is brother to lightning."**

" _It seems that child finally realises that the_ sky _doesn't always need its storm."_  G scoffed, as if it were obvious.

It wasn't, of course. The storm would always need the sky. But the elements, they weren't always needed in concentrated forms. The sky didn't always need the reprieve of a storm's eye to rest, nor did it always need a torrent.

" _Thank the gods,"_  Lambo collapsed into the sky at my feet as he watched his young heir find sanctuary in Hayato's arms. His eyes closed and I felt the stress leave him.

It was more than amusing to see the storm and lightning so close.

" _Ara, is the little prince attached to the little cow?"_  G grinned as he smoked, but even while tormenting our little lightning he kept his eyes flickering to the battle at hand.

" **I don't have time to play."**

" _As if! I just don't trust your little runt with the storm ring."_  Even Asari chuckled behind his hand at the blush on Lambo's cheeks.

I could feel tense atmosphere, and even the Varia in their suffering were watching the screens with intent, watching for their Sky and their comrades. They had little luck of saving from them though. With Kyouya destroying his own land as he beat the Varia back and Hayato protecting and saving all that was precious to his sky –and himself– there was little room for antidote or rest.

" _You know,"_ Knuckle mused as we watched Kyouya fight, since he was of interest right now. _"That boy calls himself a carnivore, but he is evolution in human form."_  As strange as it was to hear a man of God talk like such, I couldn't disagree. The boy fought tooth and nail, but he seemed to pick up on keys and fighting stances as if he were evolution in a tangible, sped-up form.

I had to wonder if he was always like this, or whether it took a home and a threat to do such.

A shock wracked through me and I spun on my heels to see the most horrifying sight. My heir, my boy, my  _child._  All I saw was a grim determination and sweat on Tsuna's face as he stared down a barrage from those damned guns in Xanxus hands.

" _His hands form that of a prayer."_  Knuckle observed. He had said the same thing to me some 400 odd years ago.

" **I won't let it happen."**  Xanxus seemed to see the power in this pseudo-prayer because his teeth grit and his attack intensified.

Suddenly, my vision blacked. I could hear my guardians screeching at me.

" _GIO!"_

" _Giotto, my friend!"_

" _By Gods, Giotto, what's wrong?"_

" _SKY!"_

" _Giotto-nii?!"_

But it didn't matter. Suddenly, my focus on my child's flames was gone, and I couldn't feel the heat that surrounded him. Suddenly, the air around him was gone. His flames, his very presence disappeared.

I hadn't realised just how tuned in I had forced myself to be of his presence and status. For him to suddenly disappear, for him to suddenly lose his flames…

Suddenly, his flames were back. My eyes focused in panic and confusion, before my chest clenched in fear.

" _My gods, he can't do this yet…."_

I expected my guardians to say something, but as they watched young Tsunayoshi become engulfed in flames, and come out at least partly unscathed, they understood. He was trying to do what I trained for years to do. I may have helped him understand the concept, and I knew he couldn't win without it, but never did I imagine that he would try it out untested against such strength.

He missed the mark though, because not a single piece of ice appeared. Xanxus wasn't frozen.

" _God damn it."_  I felt myself growl.

" **Like a monkey, imitating things you don't know about. A fake like you couldn't have done it. Scum should turn to ash."**

" _Who's a fake?"_  I felt myself seethe as I stood, leaning on G, and my guardians flinched back.

Let it be known that while I did not like aggression and would never control my family with it, I had been known to dock the tails of impudent mutts. This particular runt had overstepped himself time again, and now I was passed…

" **The ZPB is not like that."**  Xanxus was subdued by this, his voice tight.

" _Che, of course he knows."_ G seethed beside me.

The technique my boy was pursuing, Xanxus would never even have the inclination for. The technique he had seen, the one that left those colours on his skin, that was my technique. It was one I cultivated to stop myself from harming what was mine. In my early years, I believed a time out would calm those who disobeyed me. It was only in later life I realised that these were men and not children.

Xanxus had felt my technique, my zero point breakthrough, but he would never understand the one that Tsuna was trying to learn.

" _It's a shame that he had such time stolen from him."_  Knuckle sighed, though his eyes were harsh on Xanxus and hopeful on Tsuna.

" _He deserved it though. In fact, he could use some more time."_  Asari clutched his swords. It hurts to see him so angry. But rain could be a light mist, or a torrent. Rains were tricky and unstable, and right now, Asari was completely right in his fury.

" **Next time, I'm going to do it right."**  My boy though, as shocking and brilliant as it was, was not lost in his emotions. His eyes were on winning, on protecting.

His heart was in his flames and I was completely blank. It scared me, how solid the will was in this boy. None of my blood sons, or Tsunayoshi's father, had such will. It shouldn't be so strong, but it obviously was. It was obviously on par with my own, yet it was only  _now_  activating. It should have been flowing through him with an intensity that no one could control. My child should have been the top in every aspect of his life. My boy should have been confident.

But the 9th, for all his sweetness, was terrified of this purity. He stifled my child in a hidden fear that Tsunayoshi would come into his own. My boy should have. He should have had his flames all along. He should have destroyed Vongola and taken it for his own. Instead, some old fool feared the true Vongola flames and now it might end my boy.

The 9th's fearful compassion to let my child live forever as a civilian had ruined Xanxus too.

" _You may say that my boy is evolution,"_ Alaude muttered. It broke me from my angry internal thoughts and I turned to my cloud. His eyes were bright and concentrated on my boy now instead of his own.  _"But look at your boy."_  The grin on my cloud's face was feral.

In fact, all of my guardians, from Lampo to Knuckle, were watching my boy with a mix of awe, fear, and pride.

" **Die."**

One more attack pressed into him. A fireball so large and vast that it felt like it would take the entire country with it stood at Xanxus' muzzle. He grinned and strained with his own fire while Tsuna just watched with a frown.

He turned his hands, and he absorbed the flames. He was silent, hanging in the air for a moment, eyes closed in concern.

Then his limbs exploded outwards as flames, now converted from rage to pure sky, flooded his body and poured out as if they were limitless. I couldn't help it. I couldn't help the grin that grabbed a hold of my lips or the growl in my throat.

He did it!

" **Zero Point Break: Kai!"**

" _Well, the boy certainly learns quickly under pressure."_  Alaude tried to sound put out, but there was pure want in his eyes, a want to train, a want to force my Tsunayoshi to spar and train with his Kyouya.

I watch with awe as my guardians and Tsuna's group watched  _my_  boy with this intense relief and disbelief. Tsuna did something I couldn't, something I didn't think possible. He had done it on the go, without much guidance. With a jump start from my will, and a push from his tutor, but with just his own intuition and the need for evolution like none he had felt before, my boy had done it.

He had perfected Zero Point Break. My child had found a way to fight without making his opponent submit to my power. He had found a way to keep fighting by using the opponent's strength.

My child would be able to fight longer, and become stronger than his opponent. It was the best irony. It was the most gorgeous thing I could imagine.

My little one, the weak and underestimated, would beat down his opponents with ease. It would be easier the stronger they were. It was beautiful.

" _I cannot believe it…."_  Asari was breathless.

Eyes turned to the caged tutors and I spoke for my guardians when I saw that our jaws hit the ground. We had long since gotten over death in these tournaments, and though Xanxus' callous ways didn't affect my guardians, the death of such a loyal man had.

Only, he wasn't dead.

" _Che, he's not much of a loyalist if he blurts his boss' most cherished secrets to the world."_ G scoffed, angry in the way he did when he was disappointed in potential.

Asari looked completely broken. Had his swords not been attached to his hip, they would have hit the ground. His eyes were wide and tears brimmed in the corners as he looked over the very badly beaten Squalo. Then man was bandaged beyond anything, but he still scoffed and complained, and his eyes were very much alive.

" _He's trying to save his boss, G."_ Knuckle tried to defend.

" _Doesn't matter. He is betraying his boss' secrets. To save him or not, it isn't acceptable."_ Alaude bit out.

Asari wasn't paying attention either. His eyes were focused on Squalo before quickly flickering to Takeshi. For good reason too. The boy had been leaning pathetically on a wall, pained by the poison left in his system, and giving up hope. Upon seeing Squalo though, life sparked back into Takeshi's eyes.

" _Yare, as if you aren't glad he's giving your boy information, Alaude."_ Lampo chuckled. Of course, he was off at a sprint afterwards as Alaude chased to beat him.

I approached Asari and pulled him close. He shook with relief and I could understand. He worried that his heir would never heal from this. It was one thing to leave an opponent to die, but it was another for them to kill themselves despite being saved. It was no secret that Asari saw both boys as heirs to him either.

Still, the battle had lulled as Squalo explained Xanxus' tale. It was one I knew well, a sad tale of betrayed a child. It was a perfectly average tale of adults thinking the worst of their children. It was because people didn't believe in Xanxus' temperament that had led him to this rage. If he had been told from the beginning that he was cherished but not an heir, he would have grown strong.

He would have made Vongola strong.

Xanxus' will was tired now. It was empty. It was tired of leading this team, this rage, and it was tired of being led around by its nose. Xanxus' will was tired of this anger. He had no release. Even if he took over and killed my boy, he would not have Vongola for himself. He needed this fight, but he would get no relief from killing my civilian boy.

It was exhausting to watch, because had Xanxus been kept in the know, and treated like the man he was all along, then Vongola would still be strong. One of his brothers would take the throne. He would lead the Varia as a strong offense for the Vongola.

If Xanxus had just been allowed to grow and know what was happening, _my_  child would be allowed to live properly.

" **Look. His hands are frozen."**  My musings were long and empty, because by the time I let myself see the reality of this brutality, Xanxus' hands were frozen and my gut clenched.

I felt the fear, the pain, and the absolute terror.

Not from my boy though, but from Xanxus as memories of his eight years in cradle assaulted him. His wrath exploded as his scars writhed across his skin. It was ugly, and it was a punishment more than deserved. Those who experience ZPB already knew their wrong doings. They were punished by their own memories, and they did not need to see themselves turn into some deformity.

But they did, and it was sick.

It made me even sicker to know that my young child had to perform such an act on someone. He didn't need to. He needed to stick with his own creation. He needed to keep his hands clean.

But I know his will wouldn't let him. That intuition of his was volatile. I know for a fact that his intuition would make him kill before it lets him stop.

Tears poured down my face before I was even sure of how I feel about all this.

" _Giotto, there's nothing you can do."_  G was by my side, and though the tears panicked them all, for I felt Lampo's hands on my cloak, they did nothing to stop my tears from falling.

" _It was inevitable."_ Asari tried, a frown marring his face, and it stabbed me to think he was so happy just moments ago when Squalo appeared.

" _Xanxus wasn't going to back down."_  Knuckle wept in his voice.  _"Your boy needed to do what had to be done."_

It didn't help though. Because Tsuna's blood forced his will here. Tsuna's intuition wanted his life secured, and with Xanxus rampaging even more now that Tsuna has the advantage, there was no choice but to. Put. Him. Down.

I could feel Tsuna's flames crying.

It was a shame. All of this could have been avoided if not for the 9th's weakness. His softness trapped this boy, Xanxus, and now my boy was going to make him simmer. Xanxus didn't deserve this. He had been an innocent –in a sense– like my own boy at one point. But the 9th ruined him. Now he would always hate my boy.

" **ZPB first edition."** Tsunayoshi's voice sounded so broken, and his flames called out to mine for help.

As the ice covered Xanxus, his guardians approached him, broken and bloodied. I didn't even speak. Instead, I followed suit and drew near to my boy, each of my guardians pressed near their own. This had been the longest night, and hopefully it would finally be over. Hopefully, I could finally rest.

My heir was here. His fight was over, and I wanted sleep. Maybe he would take my place one day, maybe I would never have to watch another fight. I would watch all of Tsunayoshi's though. No matter how much my mafia blood scoffed at his softness.

At least Tsunayoshi's softness had a spine of steel. It may not always be there, but it slotted into place when it was needed.

It really was too bad that my child's story couldn't end there.


End file.
